As we move closer to spring, I look for signs in the forest that it’s already begun. I started this adventure on a walk along the greenway near my house. In winter, the woods are brown, gray and beige with a few green remnants from last year, such as the honeysuckle vines. Sitting on a bench in the sunshine, I imagine what is happening beneath the surface of the forest floor inside the trees.
This time of year, the activity is usually invisible. Looking across the forest floor and up in the trees you cannot see anything happening. But, in the ground, new life has already started. I cannot see the trillium, one of the first wildflowers to bloom, beginning to send up its shoots through the leaf cover. But if I dig down, I’d find it so.
When it warms up, the sap starts moving within the tree trunks. The tight buds on the trees begin to swell. I’ve noticed the warm sunny days subtly affecting the Japanese magnolia and Bradford pear trees. Their buds are beginning to swell ready to open. In the case of the pear, some have already pushed through their protective shell. The sumac bush has already sprouted new buds.
Even my roses sport buds that are swelling beyond their tight overcoats, regardless of the nighttime temperatures.
On the fourth day of creation, the Lord gave us the seasons. We see the visible change of seasons, but we don’t know exactly when the earth warms enough to signal the tree frogs to come out of hibernation or the crawdads tunnel up to the surface. My rose bushes absorb the sunlight invisibly. Sunlight triggers other vascular changes that produce branches and buds. When I prune them back, they are just sticks. But suddenly one day a bud, then a shoot appears. Later, at the end of that shoot, flower buds appear. These directives are not visible to us. But we see the new life that results.
Our Godhead Trinity is invisible to us. Yet we know when we have heard from Him because “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” (1) But that new life of righteousness and salvation isn’t visible except in our thoughts and actions. We know we are saved, cloaked with righteousness, and are new creations. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2)
We know that there are several heavens above the earth, but we can’t just open a wardrobe door such as in Narnia and see it. We long to know what heaven looks like and read books about people who’ve had near-death experiences. I suspect heaven won’t look anything like what we imagine; it will be a thousand times better.
The Lord is invisible to us, but only for now. In His great wisdom, He gave us a natural world where we see evidence of Him. And we enjoy His handiwork as we watch Him transform ourselves and others into new creations. So just as you can’t see what’s going on in the forest in February – or even in mid-summer – it’s happening. “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (3)
Much of the new life that appears in both the natural and spiritual realm is invisible until we enter heaven and see the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We will also see with unveiled eyes the incredible work He did in our lives and other people.
“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
Isaiah 61:10 ESV
- Romans 8:16 ESV
- 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV (emphasis mine)
- Philippians 2:13 ESV
