Almost Crazy?

Spring is in full bloom. It’s almost crazy.

Those trees looked about as dead as could be. From a rise in the neighborhood I could survey the roof tops of all the houses down the hill. The patches of dirt covered in leaves and last year’s mulch in the neighbor’s yard seemed irredeemably dormant. It was hard to imagine anything but disappointment lay ahead for the gardener of the house.

But now? From that upper neighborhood vantage point the homes below are nearly hidden with a canopy of leaves. Those dormant patches are anything but! Now neighbors stroll by an explosion of daffodils, tulips and other flowers whose names I cannot identify but whose curious beauty I enjoy.

Take a walk in the spring. It is almost crazy. The blossoms of the trees and bushes spread fragrance across the yards. The best is the lilac. The worst is that stinky one with the white blossoms.

The colors and shapes of the flowers vary in amazing ways. The tulips display an array of shapes and colors. The daffodils are shaped the same but vary in yellows from nearly white to almost orange. Magnolias display one sort of “spectacular”. Redbuds display another. Purple. Pink. Yellow. Orange. Red.

And that’s just spring! To think that lifeless kernels of corn buried in dirt will provide next year’s bread for toast and jam. To think that before long farmers will pull dirt covered orange things out of the ground and we will enjoy the sweetness of carrots with dip. To think that orchards will open in the coming months and invite you to pluck cherries and peaches and apples that almost look to be offered down from heaven above.

This is not to mention that almost crazy thing that the leaves will do come fall.

And… craziest of all? It happens again year after year.

I believe a lot of things. Jonah. Feeding of the 5000. Stilling of the storm. The Resurrection. Crazy to some. But I believe it.

What I find hard to believe is the stories that are told in National Geographic, The Smithsonian and other such publications that explain how all this wonder of spring happened by chance and natural selection. Why flowers are this color. Why bushes have that fragrance. Why leaves behave as they do. The tortured logic, excessive extrapolation and minimal actual historical data make their explanations seem… almost crazy.

Go on. Read some of that stuff with a critical mind. This falls in the realm of something I posted earlier about relating to experts. Say this to yourself. “That’s interesting; I wonder if it is true.”

No, in the end that explosion of spring is not almost crazy, and it is not in accord with godless explanations; it is grace from the Creator. It is a gift from God to the human race eclipsed only by that greater springtime gift of grace: the death and resurrection of Jesus.

So, out, out of the house. Walk. Stroll. Experience the almost crazy grace of God.

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! Psalm 95

There is something else that may seem almost crazy. The Creator has invited us to join him in his art. Can you imagine Michelangelo or Renoir or Picasso sharing his paint palette with a much lesser artist and invite him or her to contribute? But that is exactly what the Creator has done. He has revealed his palette of wonder to his creation; he has revealed the science of genetics and how change and variation are created within limits. Indeed, the human race can now manipulate colors, shapes and other characteristics of flowers, trees, plants and other living things.

That’s not crazy. There is a better understanding of what happens when the Creator invites his creation to join the art party. It is called grace upon grace.

This spring week—that’s significant.