May 23, 2025
Spring of The Soul
See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Song of Songs 2:11-13
When I went off to college, like many people of that age, I kind of lost my mind for a few years, fully embracing the party lifestyle.
I say this not to glorify sin, but to be honest and to set the stage for one of the biggest turning points in my life.
To tell the story properly, though, I need to go back a little further to the spring semester of my senior year in high school as I had turned my attention to where I would go to college. In high school, I didn’t start taking school seriously until midway through my junior year. When it came time to apply for college, I only applied to two schools - my dream school - the University of North Carolina - and UNC Greensboro. I got in to UNCG fairly quickly, but waited until the last possible minute to apply at Carolina because I wanted my latest scores to be added in. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity to hear back, I received the reply from Carolina only to find out I had been wait-listed. I was disappointed but willing to roll the dice and see if I could enroll in January. But my Mom was convinced that if I didn’t start college in the fall, I wouldn’t go at all. It became a point of contention at our house, but my Mom won out and I reluctantly agreed to go to UNCG. By that time, we were in scramble mode because all of the on campus housing had been assigned. Somehow we managed to find a college senior who was looking for a roommate in an off-campus apartment. I think my Mom was so relieved that we had found housing for me that she temporarily lost her usually spot-on sense of Mother’s intuition.
Basically, she dropped me off at an apartment with a 21-year-old roommate. She might as well have given me the keys to the Party Bus! To be clear, I was the one to blame for my decisions. My Mom just wasn’t on her A-game that day.
Back in those days, most students stayed on campus, particularly their first two years. Almost all of the friends I made lived on campus, so my apartment became party central over the next couple of years. Whatever the occasion, whether weekday or weekend, my apartment became the place where all my friends gathered to have a good time.
But I’ll never forget one night my junior year in college. It was about four in the morning and I was cleaning up from the aftermath of yet another party. I was going from room to room with a garbage bag, picking up the remnants of what had been left behind. I happened to walk by the bathroom mirror and I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Little did I know that a God moment was about to take place. When I saw my reflection, it was like the Holy Spirit came over me, convicting me of years of sin. When I saw my face in the mirror, I didn’t know the person who was looking back at me. How had I wandered so far from the Lord? With the smell of stale beer still wafting through the house, I literally cried out to God that morning, asking for forgiveness.
God heard my cries, forgave my sins and set me in a new direction. I was undone before the Lord and I was done with my partying ways.
Immediately, I turned to one of my old friends, Lori, for direction. Lori and I had grown up together, went to the same church, same youth group, same high school and even the same college. Ever since I had met her, she was the most steadfast Christian I had known. She was never holier than thou, but was just consistent in her walk and had standards that she was unwavering in keeping. I admired her, but I also would tease her and even tried unsuccessfully to pull her to the dark side when I was embracing the party lifestyle. I wasn’t the greatest friend, to say the least.
So when I had this moment of conviction and surrender to the Lord, she was the first person I turned to. She never said I told you so, never judged me, she just rejoiced with me in what God was doing in me. She introduced me to some of her Christian friends on campus and turned me on to a Bible study group and some groups that came together for worship each week on campus.
I started diving into God’s word for the first time in forever and started going to church about 30 minutes away where one of my former youth pastors was now preaching.
God was doing a work in me and the changes came quickly in my life.
In our last devotion, I introduced the idea that - like there are changing seasons when it comes to our calendar - there are also seasons of the soul.
What I began experiencing in college after repenting that fateful night was a spring of the soul, marked by rapid growth, renewal and even some pruning.
The growth was night and day. I couldn’t wait to get into God’s word. It seemed like every day God was teaching me something new and opening my eyes to a new world. Gone was the coarse language I would use without even thinking. My desires began to change. I had no desire to drink. I met new friends and began to realize that my party friends were simply good-time friends. They weren’t the friends that you could expect to be there in a time of crisis.
For me, there needed to be a time of pruning in the spring. As I was growing, there needed to be some things I cut out. Some friendships had to be cut. There were some activities that needed to be cut out of my life. There were some places I no longer needed to go. This was necessary for the growth to continue.
I almost hesitated to use this example from college, but ultimately I felt like someone could relate. Perhaps you have been wandering far from the Lord for quite some time. First, let me say that you’re never too far gone. God can set your life in a new direction in an instant. It just starts with a moment of repentance and surrender.
Some tips for when that happens:
Find someone you trust and admire for their faith and reach out to them for guidance.
Get back into the Word of God. The best way to sustain that growth is by consistently reading God’s word.
Ask the Lord to change those old habits in your life.
Find a church or a small group where you can begin to share life with other believers.
Do some spring cleaning in your life. Honestly ask the Lord to show you what relationships need to go, what places you need to avoid, etc.