Good Friday??

Yup.  I was out taking photos in the yard again.  Looking at different angles and different subjects, trying for those interesting shots.  This was one from the maple tree in the front yard . . . wish those little whirligig things would be gone . . .

This is one of the trumpet vines that take over the yard every summer; they attract
the hummingbirds, but sure are hard to keep under control.

I don't know how the branches have gotten so intertwined, but it makes for an interesting
looking plant in winter and spring!

And back to a maple in the front yard!

I love spring and watching the flowers budding and blooming, and the leaves popping out on the trees. I even enjoy seeing some of the very sunny dandelions.  There's so much encouragement from the plants that "return" to life every year.  That's one reason I only plant perennials; the other is I'm lazy!  If I'm going to plant something, I want it to come up in the same spot every year.  I don't want to have to dig and plant every year to enjoy it.

The trumpet vine is one of the most frustrating plants in the back yard.  I love it when it's blooming, but wish I wasn't constantly pulling up volunteer shoots (or mowing them over), or pruning them almost weekly.  But, I love the hummingbirds they attract, so I will put up with their idiosyncrasies.  I shouldn't be amazed, but I am every spring when I see what looks like dead wood sprouting new growth and green leaves.  How can something that looks so far gone produce anything?

I love the maple trees out front in the summer, but not so much in the spring and fall.  I feel like I spend a lot of time wrangling the buds in the spring, then the dead leaves in the fall.  The trees are at least 53 years old, and have rarely been pruned.  That makes for a lot of branches with a LOT of leaves!

So what does all of this plant talk have to do w/ Good Friday?  Oh, so very much.  We think of spring, and Easter comes to mind (among other things).  But beyond the season of the year, seeing the new growth really made me think today.

On the original Good Friday, Jesus chose to experience a horrible death after being accused of crimes he did not commit and being tortured.  He chose to die for me.  He chose to die for you.  He chose to die in order to save us from our sins.  My sins.  The ones I commit every day (day in and day out).  The ones I'm sadly aware of, and the ones I have to have pointed out to me.  HE did this.  For ME.

But, there's more!  Yes, Jesus Christ died on Good Friday.  What was so good about that Friday that found him beaten, bloody, whipped, mocked, falsely accused, and then nailed to a cross?  The good is that He died and then rose on Easter Sunday.  He did what no one had done before, and no one has done since. He defeated death.  He rose from the grave, just as He had said He would do.  And He did this for me, so I will one day be with Him in heaven.

Whenever I see the new growth on the apparently dead branches of the trumpet vine, the lily of the valley coming up, the butterfly bush turning green, or my beloved lilacs blooming, I'm reminded of new life.  Not just the new life for the plants, but the new life Jesus has given me.  Every day is another opportunity to grow in faith and share His love.  There are times I get frost-bitten and pruned back, but the care and nurture from His Word and the love of His disciples keep me going.

Good Friday?  That's short for "God's love brought Good out of a tragic Friday."