A Promise Fulfilled

A lovely blanket of snow covers the earth in all directions of my house. Finally, on the first day of March, the forecasters got it right. So many times across this winter they have predicted snowfall in the Nashville area, only for it to be very cold but still just brown and green. Always winter, but never Christmas. But this morning, the birds are chirping and the neighborhood is a peaceful white.

There's been many other predictions across the past several months that have been wrong. Prognostications about what the stock market would or would not do. Guesses about what economic stimulus packages would achieve. Assumptions about energy prices. The list of futile predictions goes on and on, especially in the arena of our reeling economy.

Today is the fifth day of Lent, the season for reflecting on Jesus' journey to the cross. In his final weeks of earthly ministry, Christ often predicted that he would die at the cross and rise again. His close followers either did not want it to be so, or did not believe. They did not fully get the bigger picture of his purpose with them. But in a world then and now where so many predictions, plans and promises do not come to fruition, at least one thing remains true: Jesus kept his commitment to surrender all at the cross, and the fruit of that promise is the life constantly renewing itself within us like freshly fallen snow.

Lord, thank you for showing me that your promises remain vital even when I am immersed in so many shaky commitments and predictions in this world. They sometimes cause my emotions, dreams and plans to fluctuate, but you are steady, calm and true. Help me to thrive in your truth.