Dead or Dormant?

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 12

When winter does its deed, when the days are brief and cold, the oaks and maples, the dogwoods and redbuds all release their grip, and their leaves flutter and fall and blanket the earth. Then nothing remains but brown branches jaggedly piercing the frigid skies. Death and dormancy look very much alike.

It is not until spring when the warm southern winds push back against the northern invader when the sun draws nearer and stays longer that the true state of things is known. The living oak wakes from its winter slumber. It begins again to draw life upward from roots plumbed deeply into the earth’s fertile loam. Then the sap creeps upward toward and into each branch pushing out first the bud and then the leaf.

The dead oak, though, still stands naked and stiff. No leaves will appear. No growth will occur. Eventually, its branches lose all hope, breaking free and falling they will crash to the ground. It has been given over to the power of death.

We can’t always judge whether or not someone is spiritually dead or simply in a stage of dormancy by what we see on the outside. Don’t give up. “Lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees…” Pray that the wind of Spirit and the light of the Son will once again bring new life.