Beneath the Surface

I noticed it on my walk.
There was a definite pattern in the way the snow was melting.
I saw it over and over; repeated lawn after lawn.
The snow melts first around the base of the trees.

I saw the pattern house after house.
The snow melts outward from the tree trunk.
There were large circles of grass around every tree.
The rest of the lawn was snow covered.

I welcome any sign of spring.
Green grass, which I have not seen in months, was a sight for sore eyes.
The melting pattern looked as if someone took the snow and pulled it back.
As if to say, Do you see? Under all this snow, there is life.

There is a scientific reason why snow melts at the base of the tree first.
The dark color of the tree trunk absorbs energy from the sun.
This heat energy is absorbed by the snow, and causes it to melt.
God pulls back the curtain for the performance that is about to begin.

As I walked along, I noticed that the snow melted along the sides of the street as well.
Snow was receding along the edges like the waves along the beach.
Patches of earth were peeking through the snowy landscape.
It was a teaser trailer for the spring that is to come.

New life.
Seemingly dormant, stirring just beneath the surface.
Things are happening that we cannot see.
Amazing things seem to be waiting in the wings.

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows though he does not know how. All by itself, the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head, the the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:26-29)

Anyone who has a kindergartner has had this experience.
The child comes home, proudly holding a cup in his hand.
Upon further inspection, you notice that there is dirt in the bottom of the cup.
I planted a seed today, the child excitedly exclaims.

I have to water it and watch it grow.
You step in as gently as you can.
You explain that an entire glass of water is not necessary for this tiny seed.
You put the cup of dirt, with the invisible seed, on the kitchen windowsill.

Every day the child comes down and inspects the cup.
Dirt is left underneath his fingernail since he pokes and scrapes at the soil.
He can’t imagine that anything is really happening there beneath the surface.
If he can’t see it, and he can’t explain it, then it isn’t really going to happen.

He has been tricked.
He has believed a lie.
That seed will be buried under the dirt forever.
The evidence suggests it.

Just when the frustration sets in; just when he is about to give up, he sees it.
A little bit of green.
A tiny speck of life poking through.
He rubs his eyes just to make sure he isn’t seeing things.

He runs to his mother to show her.
Yes, she sees it, too!
Life!
The seed is really growing.

Automatically.
Without any help from him.
There on the windowsill, in a cup, in the sunlight, it began.
The curtain was pulled back just enough to let him have a glimpse.

Beneath the surface.
That is where things are stirring.
Things that we cannot see with our eyes, or explain away with our theories.
Automatically, perfectly orchestrated by God, in His time.

God in His grace pulls back the curtain just enough.
Just enough to see that speck of life.
A teaser trailer of the life that is to come.
Here is the first glimpse. Trust Me for the rest.

So many will miss the trailer.
So many walk right by the unfolding.
So many see the snow and fail to see the melting.
So many are too busy to see the process that is taking place beneath the surface.

I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of the fullness of God.
(Ephesians 3:16-19)

Underneath the surface there is a love that is wide and long and high and deep.
It is stirring.
The Seed has been planted.
You are rooted and established in this love.

The Love of Christ.
Do you see it?
Do you see the speck of new life ready to burst forth?
Nothing you have done on your own caused it to grow.

God the Father has pulled back the curtain enough to give you a glimpse.
Here is the first. Trust Me for the rest.
New life here with all its benefits.
New life to come with all its Glory.