Ain't No Grave . .

No-o-o grave gonna hold my spirit down.
Ain't no gra-a-ave hold my spirit down. (Newsboys)

We watched a Nooma video in our small group Tuesday about the life/death cycle. How death feeds life. Decaying organic matter becomes fertilizer for plants to grow. Plants die -- or give up parts of themselves to die -- to be food for animals and for us. Dying to self makes way for life in Christ. Death to life. Old to new. One thing must die for another to live. It was an appropriate message for going into Easter week.

I feel like I've been trapped in the dying part of that cycle for a quite a while. Winter, of course -- and a really awful winter at that. Sleep deprivation. Grumpiness of family members. Frustration with people and schedules. Dryness of creativity. Loss of motivation. I've even been suffering from a minor medical condition this week (one too icky to expound upon here -- and nothing for any of you to worry about).

But this morning, I experienced a momentary spark of new life. The sun is shining. There are blades of green grass starting to appear in the lawn. The flowers the cast gave me after the play last week are blooming pink and lovely. And the CD in the van started playing the defiant rockin' song I quoted above. No grave gonna hold my spirit down.

I'm determined to choose new life today. I've had a miserable winter . . but Sunday is a'comin'. I'm throwing off the graveclothes. Death gives way to life. These momentary sorrows will only be fodder for the joy to come -- for what Satan meant for evil, the Lord will turn into good! Do I hear an "Amen", brothers and sisters??

Lord knows, they'll never keep me in the ground --
Ain't no gra-a-ave hold my spirit down!