They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Isaiah 61:3b

Spring! After months of gray skies, bare, spindly trees, and brown grass, green emerges. Flowers bloom, showing their beauty. Sap makes its way to the tops of trees, filling them with life-giving nutrients to come alive with fresh foliage.

Fresh growth on evergreen plants is brighter: an almost translucent, bright lime color versus a stiff dark green. It seems tender and more vulnerable compared to the hardness of old growth. 

We begin life tender and vulnerable, but as life happens to and around us, it’s easy to harden, not allowing vulnerability or easy access to our hearts.

How about you? Has life dealt you some hard blows? Is your heart hard with a protective shell around it? 

God knows every single thing about you and loves you unconditionally. He wants to carry your burdens for you and heal the deep hurts that linger. Like us, He experienced pain, grief and betrayal. He can relate to you in every way. 

Jesus knocks on your heart asking to be let in. He longs to fill you with His Spirit, and give you a fresh new life, tender and vulnerable, beautiful and full. Open yourself to Him, the One who is most worthy of your trust.

Why? Because He gives beauty for ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair (Isaiah 61:3a). He takes the gray and spindly and makes it alive and beautiful.

Why is He willing to do this for us? Because He can. Because it brings Him glory. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor (Isaiah 61:3b). When He does this for us, we become a testimony of His power and might!

Open your heart to Him. Allow Him to fill you with fullness of life, and bloom! And then display His splendor for all to see!

Johna Clemons