Refresh

In Kansas, May is a month of refreshing. The days hint of the warmth to come, Spring rains gently saturate, life is in full bloom and the evenings are still cool and full of the scent of lilac and iris. When I look back in my journals during Mays-gone-by the record is clear and repetitive: brilliant! cool! refreshing! perfect! Winter's cold can bite and tear, summer's heat can oppress and fatigue, but the center of Spring can always be counted on to refresh.

Life can be a harrowing adventure, and I think that's why the times of refreshing become so cherished. I am grateful for the grace of God that brings days with relatively little trouble, when light seems to shine through every window and under every doorway. I'm even more grateful for that same grace which makes the darker days bearable (and even joyful).

But no matter what the day or season, the best refreshing is the knowledge of forgiveness:

"Repent, then, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord..." Acts 3:19,20

If that isn't comfort, I don't know what is.

And what must I know to live and die in the joy of this comfort? Three things: first, how great my sin and misery are; second, how I am set free from all my sins and misery; third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance. (Heidelberg Catechism, Question Two)