As I looked out the window yesterday afternoon, the first signs of Spring made themselves known in our garden. The sun drenched the backyard, filling it, for the first time in months, with warmth. Squirrels scurried around on top of the tightrope of the chain-link fence. The very first flowers of the year began to sprout, opening their petals skyward. It was, in a word, miraculous.

This morning’s blue sky feels like an encore. Two days of sunshine in a row? In February? In Seattle? I suppose it might be best to enjoy the miraculous for whatever time it rests here, but my thoughts are drawn into the fleeting nature of these days.

March will come in like a lion, and out like a lamb. April will bring its showers. May will bring its showers. Even June will bring its showers. In other words, Spring has not yet sprung. It is still on the way. And when it does come, it may be too subtle for many of us to announce its presence. It may come shrouded in clouds and it will almost surely be accompanied, in the Northwest, with more rain.

But, recognized or not, Spring will surely come.

And these are just the first whispers of what is to come. Those flowers that bloom in February are something like a deposit, a promise of something that will arrive, even if unexpected and unnoticed.

So it is with the kingdom of God.