It’s one of my favorite times of year.

Everywhere you look trees and bushes are budding out, ready to burst forth in celebration of spring. A grey, monotone winter begins to give way to green and new shoots pop through last autumn’s blanket of leaves.

But my favorite part about spring in Kansas is the red turkey winter wheat beginning to come up, carpeting the flat landscape like vast manicured lawns.

In case your idea of agriculture is keeping your house plant alive, red turkey winter wheat is a variety brought to America by Russian immigrants. It’s a hardy breed, popular because it can survive the harsh Midwest winters.

Farmers plant the wheat crop before the ground freezes in the fall. Through the long, bitterly cold winter months, the wheat seeds lie dormant under frozen earth and snow.

When the earth begins to thaw and warm, the wheat kernels come to life and begin to sprout, covering the Wheat State with its signature crop and a rich carpet of green.

Why does this annual occurrence bring such joy to my soul?

A couple years ago I went through a very difficult winter season in my life, full of hurt and depression. I think we’ve all been there. It’s those times when the months stretch out, long and grey, and it seems nothing will ever bring color to your life again.

 And yet, eventually, spring does come.

In the midst of the cold and loneliness of that season, God reminded me of his faithfulness through an image of a wheat field, first lying dormant and frozen, and then in the bloom of spring, healthy and green and covering bare ground with life .

He has brought this picture to mind over and over again, reminding me in times of discouragement that even when my life feels like a frozen field, when I look at it and nothing seems to be happening, spring will one day come.

Over and over. Speaking to my soul three life-giving words.

Spring will come. Spring will come. Spring will come. 

Maybe you’re in a season right now full of life and color and celebration. I rejoice with you. But maybe you’re not. Maybe your life is still cold and grey. Maybe your fields still lie dormant.

Don’t give up. There’s always hope.

Many years ago, around this time of year, life looked pretty cold and hopeless for a rag-tag group of simple men who’d left everything to follow Jesus, only to see their best friend and Lord brutally betrayed, tortured and killed.

Those three days must have felt like forever. Those three, achingly long days before their Savior rose from the dead and brought new, eternal life to every single one of us.

So take heart. Spring always comes.