'Tis the Season

No, not for boughs of holly and strings of lights.

It is finally the season of warmth, rain, wind, and the Earth's northern hemisphere tilting more toward the sun than it has in the past 4 months. Yay! Spring.

It's time for preparing garden soil and planting seeds. Time for birds to return from their winter brooding places and frogs to emerge from their underground hollows of hibernation. Time for cold, wispy cirrus clouds to be hidden from view by miles of cumulus, stratus, and nimbus clouds beneath. Time for the Spring Sky to take its abode directly ahead in the night sky, pushing the Winter Sky further West. Time for spring break, spring showers, spring colds, spring cleaning, and spring renewal.

Of all the myths of old considering spring, they all had one thing in common: spring is a time of rebirth. The ancient people of Egypt believed the sun god Osiris, who had died in the winter, bring desolation, coldness, and darkness, was resurrected every spring, bringing back warmth, sunlight, and the Nile floods to help plant their crops. The ancient Greeks equated spring as the beginning of the six months of time when Persephone, daughter of the goddess of agriculture Demeter, was allowed to escape Hades; in celebration, Demeter would make the earth bloom. The Romans, borrowing identities and changing the names from the Greeks, saw spring as the time when Mars would start up his wars again, a reference to the thunderings and lightnings in the heavens in March. For most other religions and points of view, spring is the time of renewal, the vernal equinox, when Earth begins it tilt back toward the sun.

It is no surprise, then, that the celebration of Jesus' resurrection occurs in the Spring. His conquering over death and the grave is no more epitomized than in the natural occurrence of spring conquering winter, the hours of the day conquering the hours of the night. Unlike the many myths, and the recurring rotation and shifting tilt of the earth, Jesus' resurrection was once and for all. Unlike Osiris, He does not have to die every winter to be resurrected every spring. Unlike Persephone, Jesus has already conquered Hell (a word we get from the Greek word "Hades") and does not need to return there ever again.

But, isn't it awesome when you consider how God created this planet with a built-in system that shows exactly what He did for us? Isn't it worth pondering how "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork"?




(This MySBlentry was originally posted on 23 March 2007 at 6:59PM.)

COMMENTS FROM ORIGINAL POST:

2 Kudos

Beautifully put, sir.
Posted by Melissa Starcher on Friday, September 05, 2008 - 11:27 PM