Above is a photo of the flower bed leading up to the front door of the wonderful woman that teaches early morning seminary to the high school students in my church. One morning I pulled up to pick up my son and saw these gorgeous daffodils. It made my heart so happy to see the signs of spring start to show up. Spring can never come too early for me. Winter is hard for me. Spring brings the promise and excitement of a new beginning.

Yesterday I was outside tidying up my flower beds. I was cleaning away the old dead leave from last year’s Daylily plants. The new plants are growing very quickly. I usually keep the old stuff around until it stays warm enough to keep them insulated through the winter months. I have no idea if that is what I am supposed to do. It makes sense to my brain.

Then in the spring, I take away the old so that the new can grow and thrive. So that it won’t be impeded from the old dead leaves. I was pondering on this yesterday as I was enjoying the warm sun on my face. The old stuff serves a purpose to me. I keep it there to protect the new growth during the winter.

I thought about how we grow. We grow physically. We grow emotionally. We grow mentally. We grow spiritually. I began to reflect on all the ways that I have grown in my life. There have definitely been times of stagnation or regression in the circumstances of my life. There have been times where I feel my “leaves” have shriveled up died.

Some of those experiences were painful and hard to go through. I couldn’t see that eventually beautiful things would come from it. I couldn’t see how me suffering through debilitating anxiety could be a blessing. I didn’t know that several years in the future, sharing my experience with others might bless them with hope during their struggles with anxiety.

I didn’t know that when my husband lost his job right before Christmas that it was the best possible scenario for our family. That I would ever use that difficult time in my life to help bring hope and encouragement to someone else’s life.

I have many more stories like this, but they are not for this post. This post is about renewing yourself. There are always things that serve us for a time and then it is time for a change. A renewal.

You know what my favorite story of renewal is? The resurrection of Jesus Christ. His mortal body had served Him in his life. But it needed to become an immortal body. After his crucifixion and death Jesus appeared to Mary near the sepulcher where he had been buried. At this time, He told her not to touch him ‘as he had not yet ascended to His Father’.

There was a period of time before He received His perfect, immortal body. We don’t know much about this period of time. I think it was a time of preparation. Maybe time to prepare everyone for His return. I think that sometimes, we have to feel the loss of something before we can be able to have joy in its return.

That is how Spring feels to me. I love being able to experience the four seasons where I live. Spring has the biggest impact to me. After a long cold winter, with little sunlight and much darkness, the flowers begin to bloom, the birds sing in choirs together, it begins to warm up, and the days become longer.

I am thankful for all the “seasons” of my life. The hard times. The times of joy. The times of struggle. The times of plenty. They help give me perspective. They keep me humble.

I absolutely don’t love going through the struggle at the time. I don’t always show up how I want to. I rarely ever do in fact. But… I eventually see what I needed to learn from that experience.

I now want to bring attention to the dead leaves. Sometimes, we don’t realize that we have to clear away the things that no longer serve us. It has to happen for us to continue to thrive. Otherwise, they get in our way and can prevent us from growing. What things are you needing to clear away so that you can grow? I think once you rid yourself from those things, we will be amazed at how much they were holding you back.