{"id":630,"date":"2021-04-07T08:03:36","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T12:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=630"},"modified":"2021-04-07T08:03:36","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T12:03:36","slug":"from-winter-to-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2021\/04\/07\/from-winter-to-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"From Winter to Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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You might say that I married into Daffodil Mania. 

My wife\u2019s mother, Phyllis, was joyfully fanatical about those perennial bulbs \u2013 whether white, yellow, orange, or pastels \u2013 that are currently blooming in many parts of America.

She once served a term as president of the National Daffodil Society and routinely jetted to various cities to judge flower shows.  Gardeners have cultivated more than 32,000 daffodil hybrids.  In Phyllis\u2019 yard, on the north side of Indianapolis, her master planting list included 1,158 varieties.

More than two decades ago, we lost \u201cGrandma\u201d way too soon. 

But many of her daffodils, transplanted to the gardens of her daughters, live on.  When they rise from the dead every spring, they are signs that we\u2019re finally done with winter.  They represent the hope of better days.  And they\u2019re reminders that one day we shall walk again with those who have died in Christ.

In the fall of 2000, Lyman Coleman \u2013 founder of the Serendipity small group resources that have been an encouragement to so many people over the past 50 years \u2013 lost his wife Margaret.

Lyman ultimately sent out a letter in which he tried to put into words what he experienced over the ensuing winter:

I don\u2019t think the pain of losing Margaret hit me until I was driving back to Denver over New Year\u2019s weekend.  This would have been three days of communion with my beloved.  I found myself going into the little \u201cwatering holes\u201d where we stopped along the way, and walking out without eating.<\/em>

In the next few weeks, I lost 25 pounds.  I was afraid to go out.  Read the mail.  Answer the phone.  Do anything.<\/em>

Fortunately, I live in a co-housing community where people notice if you are not there.  Neighbors got on my case.  One said, \u201cYou\u2019re going to make a choice in six months to live or die.\u201d<\/em>

As the letter continued, Lyman described the agonizing process of moving forward, of deciding whether or not his life was still worth living:

With the money that people sent for a memorial, I bought hundreds of daffodil bulbs and gave them to the neighbors to plant.  It has been a cold winter and the daffodils are still underground, but in a little while they will bloom in all of their glory.<\/em>

It has been a long winter for me, too.  I feel like I don\u2019t belong anywhere.  To anyone.  I am lonely.  Lost. <\/em>

But Easter is coming.  We will be together again.  Jesus promised it.  I believe it. <\/em>

By God\u2019s grace and power, may you leave behind any \u201cwinter\u201d that might have gripped your soul \u2013 so that you, too, can embrace the promises of God’s spring.
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You might say that I married into Daffodil Mania.  My wife\u2019s mother, Phyllis, was joyfully fanatical about those perennial bulbs \u2013 whether white, yellow, orange, or pastels \u2013 that are currently blooming in many parts of America. She once served a term as president of the National Daffodil Society and routinely jetted to various cities to judge flower shows.  Gardeners… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[203,207],"class_list":["post-630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-easter","tag-resurrection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":632,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions\/632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}