Prepare to be amazed!

Last Sunday, I left for church in a winter coat and long knit scarf. The temperature was in the high 30's and the weather people were predicting snow. I am long past tired of the cold of winter.
This week, the weather did, indeed, turn into snow. Tuesday, about noon, snow began to blanket the world around here. I was supposed to pick up my 5 year old grandson for an overnight visit. I flirted with the idea of trying to postpone our overnight date. But, when I called to get his mother's advice, she said, "He is really excited."
That sealed it. I would have driven through a blizzard to get him rather than disappoint him. And the drive felt like a blizzard of snow. Clomping through snow that was, at that point, 4 - 6" deep to pick him up, he popped out the kitchen door, suitcase in hand, face lit up like a light bulb saying, "Grammy, I'm ready!" That was worth everything.
I drove slowly and carefully back to Statesville with my eager beaver and wondered if winter was ever going to be over this year.
This Sunday, the sunshine matched the exhilarating warmth -- nearly 60 degrees today. The longed-for change was beginning to appear. I looked back to my doubting from just a few days ago. I very clearly remembered the discouraging feeling that the winter was going to last forever.

Connor has been in a five day a week preschool program this year. One day just a few months ago, he came bounding in my house, picked up a clipboard and a pencil, ran in my sunroom and cheerfully called out, "Grammy, don't come in until I tell you -- but prepare to be amazed!"
And, after some time, he DID amaze me by bringing out a paper where he had written his name by himself. I loved it. And since that time, I have thought of his exuberant words: "Prepare to be amazed!"
What if we, in the church, would hear those words as God's encouraging voice? In the winter that has been long and cold, hasn't God been whispering, "Prepare to be amazed!" with the springtime that will unfold. When Finance Committees meet and moan about the economy and the short financial resources, don't you think that, somewhere, God is calling out for faithfulness and "Prepare to be amazed! I am the God of abundance." For people who are stuck in discouraging situations in their lives, I believe God is opening doors beyond what we can see and encouraging us to "Prepare to be amazed! My grace goes before you!" And on that low-point of human history when Jesus was nailed to a cross -- even then, God was saying "Prepare to be amazed!"
As spring unfolds this year, can we recapture our sense of wonder and joy about God's powerful, creative work in our lives and in our world? In the soberness of Lent, let us prepare to be amazed.