Just before Palm Sunday, I started a vegetable garden, something I have not done for over 15 years. My dad loved to garden and put one in every year so we could enjoy its bounty. I have gardened in the past, but the last time I had a good garden started a plague of grasshoppers wiped it out overnight. I have not tried since. However, this year our schedule has me at home enough to have time to tend the garden and enjoy its produce.

Last year I built some raised beds, so I planted green beans, sweet peppers, sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes and three kinds of squash. (I know it is a little late for peas in this part of the country, but I thought I’d give it a try.) I added a timer that automatically waters everything. Then we left town for 10 days. When we returned, everything had sprouted. I was excited to see the new growth and hope for a harvest.

Then I walked around our property and found that all four pecan trees we have planted have new growth on them. Two peach trees out of three survived two harsh Februarys and look great. I also have pine and oaks that are taking off with the warmer temperatures. Wisteria that we thought were goners have new green leaves. Irises are about to bloom, cacti are going strong, crepe myrtles have come back to life. The flowers Cheryl planted in the beds across the front of our house are bursting with color. And of course, the lawn and fields are green and need to be mowed.

As I was taking inventory, I could not keep from thinking of our good and gracious God who makes all things new.

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah 43:18–19)

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:5)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

The same God who made all things, who ordered the seasons to allow for planting and harvest, is the one who made me new, too. Jesus replaced my sinfulness with His righteousness. He loves me, forgives me, and wants me to be with Him forever. He did what it takes to make that happen.

I have long appreciated that we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord in the Spring of the year, when we have signs of new life all around us. It reminds me of the new life I have because of Jesus.