Life can be better

We all go through ups and downs. Sometimes life is like a glorious spring morning, and everything seems positive, fresh and good. At other times, life seems more like a dark, grey February afternoon - the warm days of summer are almost forgotten, the dark days of winter never seem to lengthen or warm up, and spring seems a million years away.
Why life is like that is, of course, a complicated question: it may be that God is testing us or rebuking us by sending external difficulties or internal restlessness. It may be that we've got ourselves into a bad place by our own stupidity, wrong thinking and/or wrong behaviour. It may be physical or mental illness. It may be a complex mixture of all or some of these.
But there's no doubt that whatever the cause, there's one treatment which must be applied. And this one treatment may be enough in itself, or it may need to be applied with other treatments. And even if the latter is true (e.g. that we need medical treatment) without the former, such treatments or actions will never lead us back to spring time.
And this primary treatment is a renewed seeking after the Lord Jesus. Throughout Israel's history, when God's people drifted or abandoned the Lord in favour of idols of any kind (money, power, fear, laziness etc.), life became tough. And the prophets came to the people and said, 'Thus says God, 'Why do you break teh commandments of the LORD, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has forsaken you.' ' (2 Chron 24.20f). But the people would not pay attention to the word of the Lord, and because they didn't like to hear the truth, they rejected and even stoned the prophets (e.g. 2 Chron 24:21).
And if you think this is just how God dealt with his people in the OT, think again. In John 10, Jesus says, 'I am the door for the sheep' and, 'I am the good shepherd'. Those who know their shepherd and listen to his voice are led in and out of the sheep pen, protected by the shepherd and 'have life, and have it abundantly' as they are led in to safety and out to find pasture. But the key here is knowing the shepherd's voice and listening to the shepherd's voice (vv3, 4, 16, 27), and at the end of the discourse, the Jews are divided because of his words, and some refuse to listen and try to arrest him (vv21-39).
But Jesus constantly comes back to the importance of listening to God's word (both in the OT because it testifies to Jesus, and as spoken by Jesus) and following in Jesus' footsteps. So John makes an extended comment in 12:36-43 about the attitude of those who refuse to listen to Jesus, and their fundamental problem is idolatry - they love the praise of men more than the praise of God. And so they're filled with hatred and evil because they reject the word of God. They walk in darkness (vv44-50) because they refuse to listen or obey the words of Jesus.
But those who listen to Jesus see God. They know God. They live in light - the darkness is dispelled and the light floods in. Even death itself is overcome as we listen to God's word and receive eternal life.

So if you're feeling that Spring is a long time coming (I'm speaking metaphorically here), then ask yourself, 'Am I listening to God's word?', 'Am I listening to Jesus?' Perhaps your Bible reading has become dry and cursory. Take time to mull it over. Allow God to speak to you and be ready to hear - truly to hear - and respond. Outward circumstances may not change, but inner attitudes can and will. And in the end, it's inner attitudes and not outward circumstances that make life full or empty.