Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. 1 Peter 1:3-4
One of our Bible Clubs was held on the front steps of a family’s trailer deep in the piney woods. Five children and their four cousins lived up a red-dirt hill. One mild March day, dogwood trees danced in full lacey bloom, covering the ground with snowy white petals.
I put my lesson aside and picked up a twig of dogwood blossoms. Using the flowering tree’s beautiful blooms, I shared the Good News of Christ from the “legend of the dogwood.” The flower of the dogwood is white, reminding us of Christ’s purity and perfection. Each flower has four petals, forming the shape of a cross. On the outer edge of each petal there are “nail prints,” spots of brown rusty stains. The center of the flower is a crown of thorns with bright red clustered fruit in the center representing the blood of Christ.
Right outside their door, the beauty of God’s creation shone with spring’s promise of new life, just as His Word offers new life in Christ. In His Creation and in His Word, He shows His love in Christ, blooming all around. As soon as we finished the lesson, the children gathered their own dogwood blossoms and ran to tell their mother the story of the dogwood. Then they took off down the hill to share dogwood evangelism with their neighbors.
Prayer: Beautiful Savior, You are truly the King of creation. Truly I love You, truly I serve You, light of my soul, my joy, my crown. Amen.
Response: Tell someone the Good News today.
(Devotions from "Cross of Ashes" by Christine Weerts, a Lenten devotional provided by Lutheran Hour Ministries. Copyright 2005, Int'l LLL. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. Permission is granted for one-time emailing of this link to a friend.)
Today's Bible Readings: Numbers 31-33 Luke 1:39-56
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