Dancing in the Sonslight

Song of Solomon 2:10-12
My lover spoke and said to me, "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.

The birds are singing, the robins have returned, trees are budding, and the air smells fresh. The yard is muddy, allergies have taken over, the last of the snow is black, and as it melts it reveals dead grass and all the trash that has accumulated in my yard that was hidden under the clean white snow.

I personally have a love- hate relationship with spring. I know that spring will usher in the warmth and life of summer and I see God working, giving new life to everything, including my attitude. That is the part of spring that I love and treasure. I truly hate the mud and the cleaning. Everything is dirty and needs to be cleaned, including my attitude.

Our relationship with God is very much like the seasons. Let’s go back a few months to autumn. In my imaginary world the New Year would start in September, Labor Day weekend would be New Years weekend.

In our relationship with God, there is that new beginning and the party that happens in heaven when we come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. It’s like ushering in the New Year. The angels dance in a knowing that someday we will be praising God with them in heaven. But right after the party, we come to the knowledge that we must die to ourselves. Just like the leaves die in autumn, we must die to ourselves; and as the tree itself does not die, neither do we. Instead we allow God to work in us, making us new. For Him to do the work He wants, parts of us have to die so He can bring forth the new beauty we hold within our hearts and souls.

Then the winter comes and the beautiful white snow covers the dirt and death of the autumn, just as the blood of Christ covers our sins. The winter air is crisp and clean, each inhale fills us with the excitement of what the spring will bring. As the winter wears on and on we will often feel restless, even depressed. Though the air is crisp and clean, the wind can be bitter and cold forcing us inside and out of the sunlight. Sad as it is to say, being out of the sunlight often forces us to look inside ourselves and suddenly we feel as if we have stepped out of the Sonslight. Just when we start to feel as if spring will never come, the wind changes and the cold north wind becomes a warm south wind. Once again brushing across your face you feel the breath of God, and it draws you out into the sunlight.

Like the moth to the light, we are drawn out into the warmth of spring, waiting with great anticipation for the summer season to come. Hoping to usher in the summer with a greater speed, we spend more time outside, not wanting to miss any of the rebirths that are happening. But when we look around our surroundings we see the mess the winter has left behind; mud, garbage, peeled off topsoil from the snowplow, gravel pushed up into our yards, and we dread tending to the work that must be done. I hate the thought of the yard work, the raking, hauling and having dirt under my nails. But I completely enjoy the experience. Once I start I don’t want to stop until it is finished. At first I go at the work vigorously frustrated that I have to do it at all. Then with no awareness of when it happens, my raking becomes a dance with God, cheek to cheek in the Sonslight. I know we are cheek to cheek because I can feel His breathe, the south wind on my face.

As I tend to my yard, working through the leaves, gravel, briars, and garbage, God is tending to me. He is working through the lies, deceit, frustration, and the guilt of sin in my life. I am preparing my yard for summer, new life, fresh and green, making it ready for growth. God is doing the same to me.

It happens overnight, almost magically. One day you see buds on the trees waiting to open in the sunlight, then with no notice at all you look up and everything is transformed, covered in beautiful new leaves of green.

We run in the sunlight with the cool grass tickling our bare feet. We wade in the refreshing water of the lakes until we simply cannot contain ourselves and allow ourselves to be swept away in the current. Laughing and playing each day wanting summer to never end, too soon forgetting the death of autumn, the bitter cold of winter, and the labor of spring, not realizing that we are taking for granted the long leisurely days of summer.

But Daddy God knows just when to call us in at the end of the day and the cycle starts all over again. He reminds us that our lives are in a constant state of change just the seasons, autumn (death), winter (grace), spring (rebirth), and summer (dancing in the Sonslight with God).