Genesis 1:1-2
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Wake up Call:
After a forest fire, everything appears dead, covered in ashes. But, in time, a new forest can rise out of the ashes, coming back to life. Some trees have the amazing ability to resprout new growth from the charred trunks or from their root systems. Sometimes buried, dormant seeds wake up after a fire. There are even some trees that use fire as a trigger for dispersing their seeds! As the trees grow, grasses and shrubs move into the area, helping to restore the soil for forests of the future. Even the ashes help enrich the soil. From ashes, new life can rise.

Genesis 1:3-5
Luke 4:1-13

Wake up Call:
The world comes back to life in the spring because of the tilt of the Earth. As the Earth orbits the Sun, its 23.5-degree tilt means we're sometimes leaning toward the Sun and sometimes away. Spring begins the 'tilting toward' phase, bringing longer days and more sunlight, which warms the Earth. Much of creation can sense these changes. The days get longer. It's time to wake up!

Gensis 1:6-8
Luke 13:31-35

Wake up Call:
As the days grow longer, chickens come to life. Hens lay more eggs, roosters crow more frequently, and the whole flock becomes more active, foraging and exploring their surroundings. Chickens are in tune with the seasons because their reproductive cycles are influenced by light. Longer days signal good conditions for raising chicks.

Gensis 1:11-13
Luke 13:1-9

Wake up Call:
Plants come back to life each spring in lots of ways: wildflowers appear on the ground and blossoms break out on the trees. Where there's blossoms, there are also pollinators: bees, hummingbirds, wasps, and lots of others. There are so many shades of green in the spring called chlorophyll, the pigment responsible for absorbing sunlight, capturing its energy, and using it to turn water and carbon dioxide into sugar. That's called photosynthesis, which sets everything in motion: the plants use the sugar for energy, creating nectar (for pollinators) and fruit (for animals), so they'll eat the fruit and spread the seeds), and that attracts insects and birds.

Genesis 1:14-19
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Wake up Call:
Many sea turtles nest during the spring. A female will come ashore at night, dig out a nest in the sand, lay her eggs, and cover them with sand. The eggs hatch at night, 1-2 months later. Those little hatchlings find their way to the sea by following the light of the Moon and stars reflecting off the surface of the ocean. Lots of animals use the Moon and stars for navigation: frogs, seals, dung beetles, and humpback whales. Male sea turtles spend their life at sea. It's the females that return to the beach - the beach where they were born. While they're still in the nest before hatching, the imprint on the signature of the Earh's magnetic field at that particular beach and use that memory to return as adults. 

Genesis 1:20-23
John 12:1-8

Wake up Call:
One of the most astonishing events on Earth during the spring is the migration of 3.5 billion birds. Birds of prey migrate by day, using giant columns of warm air (thermals) to soar. Songbirds migrate by night (avoiding the birds of prey), navigating by the stars while we sleep.

Genesis 1:24-25

Wake up Call:
Lots of animals hibernate over the winter, going underground or into a den until spring returns. Bears, bats, turtles, frogs, snakes, and more all use versions of hibernation to slow down metabolism and enter into a very deep, deep sleep. (A wood frog can actually freeze solid all winter and still come back to life!) Hibernating animals begin to wake up as temperatures rise.

Genesis 1:27, 30-31
John 13:1-35

Wake up Call:
All winter long, firefly larvae live underground, some for as long as two years. In the late spring, the rising temperature and longer days stimulate the larvae to pupate; each constructs an underground chamber, similar to caterpillar forming a chrysalis to become a butterfly. After metamorphosis within the chamber, the fireflies emerge and fly, lighting up late spring and early summer evenings. The larvae glow in the dark too as they move through the soil underground. Right now, under our feet, glowing fireflies-to-be are waking up, shining in the underground world, and growing wings.