Posted by George Morrison

Spring                                    Word on the Week                               4th April 2020.

We are blessed with four seasons each with its own beauty.    The freshness of spring flows into the glories of summer and then comes the wonder of the autumn tints to be followed by winters’ sombre hues.

Animals and plants work with the seasons.   Their body clocks are timed to perfection.    They too live to glorify their maker.  

All this we take largely for granted.    We tend to neglect our calling to be stewards over creation (Genesis Chapter 1 verses 28 to 31).

Perhaps it was the beauty of the seasons that inspired the German Christian who penned the hymn ‘Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature, Son of God and Son of Man!   Written in 1677 the second verse makes the comparison; –

Fair are the meadows, fair are the woodlands,

Robed in the blooming garb of spring:

Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,

Who makes the woeful heart to sing.

The daffodils line both sides of the farm road with a blaze of yellow that makes the heart to sing!   They are the large trumpet variety – one of many varieties now being grown.   The ‘woeful heart’ of the commercial grower, who has no retail trade because of the virus has begun to sing as a result of on-line orders.   It appears that when human contact is cut off we say it with flowers!

The birds are nesting and there is a battle to feed up from the ‘fat balls’ in the birdfeeder.   Planned for our regular finches, dunnock, robin and tits they are being plundered by rooks, grey crows and magpies.   In order to thwart the latter, we fixed the fat ball container into the middle of the blackthorn hedge.

Now the blackthorn is the most vicious of all our native thorns presenting a major problem for the larger birds but allowing the small ones to get at the food.   This worked for a couple of days till the rooks worked out how the food could be reached from below by breaking off a few twigs and reaching the fat balls!

The magpies, between doing their mating display and nest-building, were more than a match for the larger hooded crows who were looking for a territory of their own.

The humans (presently cocooned in their houses to curb the virus from spreading) are unique.   We are image bearers.   We never lose it.  We don’t morph into half man, half animal.   But we do need to look to Jesus, the perfect man. He is the radiance of God’s glory and the express representation of his being – (Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3).

Beautiful Saviour! Lord of the nations,

Son of God and Son of man!

Glory and honour, praise, adoration,

Now and for evermore be thine.