The Parting Gifts of Spring

by Pastor Gina Johnson

Technically, we are only a month away, probably just a day or two over a month away from summer. Summer comes in on June 20th, and it's nice to sit in this time and think, what gifts has spring brought us? We're actually here in spring, and so you're thinking about things having to do with creation and nature, but what gifts has spring brought you personally? How can we celebrate and remember spring in this beautiful transition as we are preparing to welcome the summer?

You know, one thing that I want to tell you about springtime is spring, I might use the word she, in honor of Mother Nature there, so she doesn't cling. She is quick to come in and do what she needs to do, and then she passes the baton, and she goes off into that next season. She passes that baton, and she's out.

She's out, and summer comes on in. If you are not sleepwalking through life, then you're going to catch all the great gifts that spring brings you, and spring brings them to you year after year. It's so important that we go through this boot camp of life each year called spring because it's a time of preparation. It's a time that helps us get ready for transformation to occur. It's a time that showers us with beauty. It's a time that reveals what needs to be let go of, just like spring cleaning with our things. What about the spring cleaning of our minds, of our souls, of our physical bodies?

It also opens us up for what's to be received. You know, this is such a testimony from spring to Jesus because Jesus wasn't about rushing from one season to the next. He came in. He walked. He paused. He didn't just stop and smell the roses. He took the time to watch the roses bloom because in the blooming, that is where we experience the becoming. And in the blooming of what spring has brought us, this is where we can experience the becoming.

And when it was time to go, yeah, there was a baton to be passed that we may know as the Holy Spirit, but it wasn't a baton of shame. There were gifts to be left, just like spring has left us gifts.

As we prepare over this next month, and some of us are already feeling it, transitioning into that beautiful time we call summer, I want to invite you to pause and recognize with me the parting gifts of spring. And in order to truly understand these parting gifts, let's take one more look at the life of Jesus and the season that took place there.

He began in the quiet of Nazareth, but then stepped into a loud call of ministry. He was in the Jordan waters for baptism, and then spent that time within the wilderness. He was at a table filled with love and fellowship, and then in a garden. He was in the tomb, which was silent and which was mournful, but then a radiant resurrection of glowing light and love. And from that resurrection, we moved into ascension, and with that presence, we were given the gift of the Spirit.

In each shift of Jesus' life, we can find a parallel to our own life. We can find a place where there is something special left for us, a teaching, a meal, a breath, a song, something that brings us to life. Even as we receive these things from spring, perhaps we can recognize the sacred pattern that is present. It's a rhythm that we go through, and we are blessed from it if we take the time to see it. I want to take some time just to look at those gifts.

You know, one thing we know about spring is it doesn't arrive all at once. I can't think of a time where it ever has. As a matter of fact, it starts off where we're like, “Wow, it's a little bit lighter longer.” And some of you seasoned crowd, that's what I call my older people, my seasoned crowd, you're the ones that are like, “We can drive a little longer at night now because it's lighter later.” I think that's just adorable, and I'm not poking fun at you, but I must have heard it at least five or six times as the transition came into spring.

Then there's also those other moments where we recognize the ground is getting softer, so it's time to begin our gardening. There's also these opportunities because we feel the change in the ground. And spring blesses us.

I read some people say spring is the bud before the bloom. I like to think spring is the appetizer before the meal. If you remember, as Jesus made known that his resurrection had taken place, he came in with a whisper. And it wasn't until that moment where Mary sat there and heard her name that things started to come to fruition. Things started to bloom. It wasn't this loud, boisterous, come on, and here it is. It was more of a gentle, graceful reminder of what's familiar.

In Isaiah 35, it says, “Let the desert and the parched land be glad. Let the wilderness rejoice and bloom.” Some of you are really aware of the season of spring in your own lives because you recognize the gift that's present. It's this gift of stirring. It's this gift of something is shifting underneath the surface, and I'm not quite sure what it is.

On Mother's Day, I had the blessing of going out to Mozingo Beach with my daughter, Dorothea, and my son, Ohmi. They were playing in the water, and I loved watching them and looking at all the people around. And as I was there in that moment, I kind of felt like all of a sudden I was watching a movie because I was really looking at the presence of people there, looking at their essence and their aura and really just observing. What is going on here today? And how blessed I am to get the opportunity to see this.

I wasn't just watching my own movie. I was watching several little screens of life taking place. And I had this moment where I wondered, “Do you all know that something is shifting? Do you all know that in every season of life and every movement, there are great things happening? We may not always be sure of what it is, but can you recognize that you are standing on the edge of a new awareness? That in every day and every moment, you're given this opportunity to experience the new.”

I was sitting in church the Sunday after Mother’s Day, and I looked over to our choir loft at our Easter banner. It says, “We are the new creation.” And I made that connection. As I was looking at those people at Mozingo, I was having a moment of judgment in my mind. And I don't mean that in the condemning sense that people associate with judgment. I mean that in the sense of, I was looking and I was thinking, “Gosh, how many of us are really awake in this time? How many of us are really feeling the spring of our lives and recognizing that we are on the cusp, we are on the verge of something new, something awakening, but we're not going to know it, we're not going to feel it. We're not going to be a part of it if we don't take the time to recognize it.”

It's so important that we know that in the spring air, there is a stirring, and that stirring may be quiet, but it's crystal clear if you listen to it. It's the message of the Spirit. It's the message of transformation to each and every one of us, beckoning and calling us, guiding us, and preparing us for something new. Sometimes we hear something new and we get a little tense, we get a little nervous. What do you mean new? What's going to change? What's going to happen with the old?

This is a continuous message that I keep bringing to you all because that's exactly right. We are this continuous process of unfoldment, this continuous journey of planting and nurturing and then allowing to bloom and blossom. So, to everything, there is a season. I want to invite you to consider, can this be the season where you recognize all along that God has been walking right beside you and quietly awakening and stirring something within you? Can you invite that to come to fruition? Can you take a look and see what was planted? Ask, “What have I allowed the weeds to get in the way of? What have I allowed the thorns and the thistles to choke up? Where can I be present to this beautiful gift of spring?”

That would be the first gift, the gift of the planting of something stirring. Each and every one of you, it's there, and you have that opportunity to see it, to, like I said, not only stop and smell the roses, but to watch them bloom, to watch the blooming of the rose that is you.

Another gift of spring is the gift of confusion. Just kidding. It is the gift of trust. But how many of us, during the spring season, walked out in maybe sandals, maybe a pair of shorts, and opened the door, and once we got a few steps outside, we're like, “Brrr. Oh, hey, I packed away my winter clothes. I need to go grab a jacket. My little old toesies are not going to be warm. I need to go in there and switch my shoes.”

You know, the weather lies and sometimes you don't know whether you should wear a coat or whether you should wear your spring dress, whether you should be wearing slacks or whether you should be out there in shorts.

And you know what else likes to come along in the spring? That uninvited guest that means oh so much to us. We call that one allergies.

You know, you walk out there, and you're like, “Spring, what are you here to give me?” You have your coffee in your hand, and next thing you know, by noon, your throat is itchy, your eyes are watery, and you are sneezing. And it's like, “Ha, welcome, welcome.”

And as spring continues to move, it may be heading out, but it's going to leave something behind. It's going to leave those allergies. It's going to leave the need to stock those Kleenexes behind. You guys ever work with little kids who are working with glitter? And when they leave and they clear out, how many times per week are there still speckles of glitter everywhere? You know, that's a parting gift, too, just like allergies.

What I'm trying to say here is even when the work of spring is done, there are still going to be those things in the air. It means that you're growing. It means that something real has taken place. You know, the gift of spring is trusting the process. As many of you have probably done some planting, or at least you know someone who has, you have to trust the process.

Jesus said that the kingdom is like a seed that grows while the farmer sleeps. He knows not how. It doesn't need managing, just cooperation. And in James 5:7, it says, “The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and late rain.”

So there is this awkward in-between where we're not sure what to wear, where we're making sure to pack extra tissues. But you have to trust that in-between. You have to trust that messiness, if that's what we want to call it. You have to sneeze, and you have to keep on going. And that is one of the reminders that spring is trusting. As we are planting, as we are clearing things out, as we are making way for the new, we need to trust the process.

Some of the most powerful things that God will do in your life will start with confusion. Will start with inconvenience. Will start with sometimes a little bit of irritation. But if you wait for it, if you trust in it, if you are patient about it, and if you pay attention, then you will see what's to come.

Many of you know I was in Arizona recently, doing what I like to call a time of training, a time of reflection and soul care, and a time of retreating. One of the moments while I was there, I got to just sit out and enjoy some of the beautiful craftsmanship and handiwork of God as I was taking in these beautiful rock formations. And I remember I saw this particular formation, and it was quite a ways up, and I thought, “I'm going to make my way to it.” It was a little bit of stepping and sliding and really having to trust my footing along the way. But I kept going, and I kept moving up there.

When I got to a certain point, I stopped, and I looked out and I actually asked the path for something. I asked the path to give me a moment of hearing the voices of all of those who had walked there before me. I didn't mean those like the tourists or those who just came to take pictures and smile with their families. Nothing wrong with that, but I meant the other initiates, the other seekers, the other searchers, the others who have walked through this area seeking to know more, to know God more, to know life more, to know love more, to know themselves more.

And as I was sitting there in that moment of silence, I was just allowing the breath to be my message. I was allowing that internal stirring to be my message. I was feeling the stillness. I had no idea what was being revealed or how it would come to fruition, but I didn't care because in that moment, there was a peace in the unknowing. A lot of times when we don't know, we tend to feel discomfort, but it wasn't uncomfortable. There was no need to feel any discomfort because I was trusting.

It was the same feeling as when I saw that rock formation, and I was like, “I don't know how I'm going to get there, but I'm going to walk in the trusting.” I was just as sure as that in that quiet moment, and I said, “Please speak to me, those who have gone before me.” I didn't know what they were going to say, and I think I'm still going to hear from them. I'm just trusting. I am just as sure as many of you who have maybe planted seeds. I know my daughter has developed doing that and maybe putting other things in the ground. It's that trusting.

Can you trust that the Spirit, that the highest version of you, has been planting throughout your entire journey? And throughout the season of spring, there have been some things planted, and maybe you're starting to see that little bud. Maybe you're starting to feel that little breaking in the ground.

Don't get worried. Don't rush to go touch it and figure out exactly what it is. You don't have to take a bunch of pictures and ask AI to find it for you. You can just let it be. And you can trust that it's going to reveal exactly what it needs to reveal.

And remember, it may come with irritation. It may come with confusion. It may come with these feelings of uneasiness, but you don't have to let them define your action. You don't have to let them define you.

Trusting in the process is a beautiful gift of spring. We have to trust the call. And it's not a call over the phone. It's not an invitation through the mail. It's from within. It comes welcoming, and it's hoping, and it's pleading. “Trust me. Hear me and receive me. Because we have something glorious coming.”

The third gift of spring that I want to spend time talking about is that peace we find when we have the gift of letting go. You know, when it comes to spring, there is always this moment of farewell. And maybe unless you're really big into diving into these sort of things, you may not understand that exactly.

But I like what Pat said in his message that there's that final curtain call. It made me think about the story of Persephone. So long ago, before there were calendars and clocks, the seasons moved with the rhythm of the gods.

I just want to tell you that this is my little disclaimer time. I mean this as lovingly as possible, but I don't really care what you believe. What I care about is if you believe in the growth and the fulfillment and really coming to full remembrance of who you are. If you care about love and kindness and giving to one another and the way that ties into all of this is. The other day I was talking to someone about Jesus. I was talking about fulfillment, and it became this conversation of, “Gods are demons. Mythology, that's all about demons and we really shouldn't talk about that.” I want to tell you that these stories, the things of history have been given to us to escort us in our journey of fulfillment. And so if I'm ever talking about something up here, like mythology or I'm talking about Buddhism or I'm talking about Islam, you don't have to cringe and get worried. You don’t have to ask, “What's happening?” because what's happening is we're growing and we're learning and we're recognizing how all paths lead back to Jesus in one way or another. And if you want to challenge me on it, we can have a seat in my office, and I'm ready to go for it, but I want you to know that all paths will take you back there.

So, let's consider the story of Persephone. There's Persephone, and she’s the daughter, and she's a queen of spring, and she brings blossoms and life, and then she returns into the underworld. But when her presence meets the earth, the earth blooms again. And her laughter comes and wakes up the soil, and her footsteps go, and she paints the fields with flowers and with life. This is when we see the beauty. We even see it on the side of the highway when we're driving through.

But you know what? She never stays very long. She can't stay forever. She came to give, and as I said in the beginning, not to claim. She comes to give and then to move on. And as the days grow longer and the sun gets older, she stands at the edge of the field, and she smiles, and she says, “I've offered all I've come to bring, and now summer will have its turn.”

Then she leaves us. With a kiss to the breeze and a nod to the tree, she turns away and moves on. And it's so interesting, because we know she won't come again as we hunger for the green, as we hunger for the blossom of spring. But we can trust in the meantime, and we can let go.

Jesus was very much the same. Jesus knew when it was time to go, as a matter of fact, I think he said those three words, “It is finished.” And it is finished in not being, “Hey, it's done. No more work for you guys.”

No. He said, “It is finished. It is finished and I did my part, and I'm not leaving with despair. As a matter of fact, I'm not even leaving with you, but as I go, I'm going to give you clarity. I'm going to give you peace. I'm going to give you everything you need. I'm going to give you the Spirit.” And then he left.

And some of us are still holding on to blooms that are ready to drop. Some of us are still clinging on to things that it's time to say we've given all we can, and we've received all we can, and now it's time to let go. Trust that there will be another season, another time where maybe something similar or maybe something completely different will come, but it will not be the same. It will be something new, and it will invite you again, and it will take you further in the blooming of yourself, in the becoming of who you are.

Some of us are afraid to let go. Some of us think that when we let go, it means we fail. Some of us think that as we let go, as we're moving through our later years of life, or perhaps retiring, that it means something is coming to an end and it's done. You know, a door is closing, but nothing has to come to an end. It's time to hear that you've done your part, you've fulfilled your task, and now it's time to let go. Now it's time to breathe and to see what comes.

In Jeremiah 29:11, we all know this verse, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

You know, that verse was on a cross that was given to me in the Sedalia church. That was not my first church that I was in, but it was the first church where I really got to get into ministry. I was an associate minister there, and I felt like that's where I actually got to get maybe like neck high for some of the first times in ministry. And I remember coming to the realization there, as I have throughout my entire life, that there are times to let go and trust that God knows the plans that he has made for me.

I know the plans that God has made for me. And there is no reason to fear being harmed. There's no reason to fear letting go, because I'm going to prosper. Things are going to grow and come to fruition, and I believe that when I am in alignment with all that I am, which is all that God is, then great things are going to come to fruition. And so it's time. It's time to recognize that in my ministry, in my business, in my family life, with my children, there are those moments where it's just time to let go. To let go of the programming and the illusions. To let go of those things that are tethering me down. To let go of the idea that the world says, “This is what everything's supposed to look like right here and now.”

Are you a thriving, healthy church? Well, should it look like this? Are you a good mother or a good father, a good son or a good daughter? Well, it should look like this. Are you a person who's entering into retirement? Well, it should look like this.

That's so gross. That is so gross. Do not let the world program you into what things should look like. You can recognize who you are. You can recognize what to let go of. And just like we talked about before, when you let something go, it allows room for something new to come.

I want to invite you to recognize spring is the giver of the quiet awakenings. Sometimes those awakenings are going to be messy but just know that we always have the courage to be ready. We always have the empowerment to do what we need to do. We always can transition out and boldly step into the new. To everything there is a season.

So, I invite you to hear the whisper. To sneeze and trust. But most of all, to not be afraid to let go and welcome it.

Please join me in prayer. Our most gracious and loving God, as we humbly bow before you, we recognize that we don't bow in shame or guilt or fear, but we bow in the reverent knowing of how blessed we are to have a God such as you. How blessed we are to be created in the image of you, to be given that life, that force, that power, that gift, that beauty.

As we're here today, may your message speak to us. May the Spirit's voice within us, that voice of spring, come to life and speak forth where we're to go next, what we're to do next. And as we honor this beautiful season of each of us, on our individual journeys, on our collective path, may we feel the abundance. May we feel the great things that are coming to fruition, but most of all, may we feel the peace and the assurance of being with you in every step. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.