Dear Heavenly Father,

I’m having a hard time shaking off the winter this year. I’ve let the cold seep into my bones, and the nights don’t seem to be getting any shorter. I’ve had plenty of false starts, times where I felt like things had finally started to thaw, but the frost crept back in again, turning my soul stiff and brittle.

So Lord, I pray for springtime in my heart.

I pray for the ice to melt and for green to grow and for all the seeds you’ve planted in me to start reaching for the sun. 

I pray that all the birds and their twittering hallelujahs will inspire my own – one that isn’t cold or broken but one that’s just warming up.

I pray that my arms will reach like the branches of the trees that are just starting to bud, that my hands will be ready to cup the blossoms of your imminent blessings.

I pray that praises will bloom in my lungs like fields full of wildflowers, a riotous worship that can’t and won’t be contained.

Let peace blow in like a promise on the wind and remind me once again that winter will never be the end. 

Turn my heart into fertile ground, yearning for the planting, Lord. I’m ready for springtime.