It’s time for March weather: In like a lion and out like a lamb– or so they taught me in elementary school. In line with its predisposition toward unexpected changes, Colorado’s weather always keeps people guessing, and not just in March. One past September, Denver temperatures reached 102 over Labor Day weekend, and we woke to snow on the ground two days later! My weather app predicts this week we will experience a high of 67 degrees one day and a low of 17 degrees three days later. This makes life challenging for travelers and commuters, but we Coloradans never get bored with the weather!
Our vegetation, however, may suffer the consequences. For example, the silver maple in our backyard, never got the memo this year that winter was coming. Typically, due to the morning shade it receives from our house and afternoon shade from neighboring yards, our lovely tree always drops its autumn leaves later than its cousins. But some unexpected warm days last fall left the tree confused. This year we raked its first fallen leaves in December then waited . . . and waited . . . and waited for the remaining leaves to fall. Now with spring just around the corner and hundreds of dead leaves still attached to our majestic but clueless tree, it looks as if we’ll be raking again in May when new buds force those old leaves out!
Even with these unexpected anomalies in temperature, we can take comfort in the fact the seasons themselves will never change their pattern. God promised Noah after the flood waters subsided.
“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Summer and winter,
And day and night
Shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22).
Similarly, with the constant and often unsettling changes in our world, we can rest in the fact that some things will never change. Some things are constant—because God made promises and His Word never fails. We will always have day and night, rain and sunshine, according to Matthew 5:46. On a more practical level, we can rest in God’s promise of care for our day-to-day needs (Matthew 6:30-33).
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
And most importantly, Jesus assures us in Matthew 28:20, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” His love and comforting presence will see us through all the changes in our lives—those we expect as well as the ones that take us by surprise. On that one constant we can depend!
Very comforting reminder, Carrie – thanks!