We’re dancing in Minnesota! The Vernal Equinox 2010 arrives today at 12:32 PM central daylight time. It’s now Spring for all of us living in the northern hemisphere, and for those of us way up North this is great hope.  

There are signs around that Spring is real. Our days are longer and brighter. Most of our snow has melted and rivers are rising, in some places to flood level. This morning I heard flocks of geese flying overhead – though the lakes are still iced over. I saw a robin on the lawn – though the frost is still in the ground and I don’t think she’ll be pulling any worms out of the soil anytime soon. Spring is here on the calendar and real evidence supports this fact. Still, the stubborn grip of Old Man Winter hasn’t relented: the thermometer on our deck reads 22 degrees. Spring is already; Spring is not yet.

There’s a spiritual parallel to the dualistic reality of Vernal Equinox. God’s promises state facts that are literally true: God heals and provides and brings us peace and security and in this season we have access to these promises. But our own health and relationships and finances don’t always reflect these facts. We are “already” living in the “Spring” of God’s goodness, but we still have to wear a coat. Already/not yet.

This is where prayer comes in play. We see God’s promises and believe them, though we don’t see perfect evidence that they are all here and now. We hold God to his word and ask him to bring “Spring” when it still feels like “winter.”

“God, thank you for Spring and for the hope of warmer, longer, brighter days. Thank you for the coming of growth and life and birth. Thank you that things are coming awake in the world. This is what our calendar says, and we do see some signs that it is real. But we also still struggle with the residual layover of winter. It’s still cold out there! Now we ask that you would bring into reality all that belongs in this season. Your word says that we will have provision, and hope, and joy, and health, and loving relationships here and now in this life. Now we ask that what belongs in this season would become actual in our practical lives. Yes, it is already spring; but it is not yet spring as well. Let everything in our lives as they are supposed to be. We hope in you and in your promises. We hope in your gift of Spring.”