Spring is here. With new growth appearing all around, we arrive at this point in the cycle of life. Spring. It’s the time for new life, new ideas, and new adventures. We are reminded of how life regenerates and how, after a long cold winter, things grow back and life begins again.

At this time, we think also of our own lives and the path we are on. For men, this means the journey of authentic manhood. The new buds on the trees and everything turning green outside is a reminder that there is life on the journey. Life does begin again after the winter of barrenness and even death. Indeed, the journey of authentic manhood is a journey of life.

Mike Haddorff, director of Christ in the Rockies, talks about the process of death and the life that follows in his article “Authentic Manhood and The Way of Descent.” This process is consistent on many different levels of our experience. Overall, our journey’s destination is life and not death.

What kind of life is this? Well, it is the kind that gives to others and reaps great benefits for doing so. It is life that survives the cold winters. It endures and lives to tell the tale, which gives life to those who hear the tale being told. It is a life that reconciles, forgives, and like the trees outside, allows us to begin again, to reboot, and to continue on the path.

This is the kind of life that we can expect on the journey of authentic manhood. This life has a source that is never ending. God is the source. He brings life to our mortal bodies again.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.  Rom. 8-11.

Spring is the great reminder that our destination is life, lest we should forget this during our times of difficulty. And Christ is our great example of life. He is this life. Christ suffered, and Christ died. But Christ rose again. Paul reminds us that the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us. He who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to us.

He is our source. We can trust that life comes again, just like the trees that green again every year. We see the faithful cycle of the seasons, which reflects the faithfulness of God and his promises to us.

And so even when life seems to be one unending string of difficulties, we can rest assured. Life will come again. Yes, in this age, and even more so in the age to come.