Hello Spring! Good-bye Winter! (Well, almost)

Hello Spring! Good-bye Winter!

     Having just returned from our local mall, I was reminded we are in the midst of  Spring Break. Children and parents everywhere were enjoying a shopping spree together. Spring Break is an academic tradition varying from province to province, but one both teachers and pupils welcome this time of year after a long winter. 

     "Despite the forecast, live like it's spring." 

— Lily Pulitzer  

     Perhaps, this is the message I should send to my relatives in the Maritimes, who have become winter weary with the huge snow banks they have had to deal with and the continual dismal forecasts. 

This is the back yard of my sister-in-law Geraldine Eagles', taken recently. No laundry on the clothesline any time soon.

           But, take heart you Easterners — there's better days ahead. We know that no matter how long the winter, the advent of spring will surely follow. We, here in the West, almost feel guilty as we have daily watched their on-going winter drama. 

     Blessed with a fairly mild and short winter, our days have already become warmer with signs of spring appearing everywhere. Officially, it quietly arrived today. Spring always brings with it its annual miracles. A time of new beginnings — tiny buds appear on the trees, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and cherry blossoms show their lovely colours. 

     I like Reginald Herbert's words:  "Spring unlocks the flowers that paint the laughing soil." 

     God obviously loves beauty and colour, having given us such an awesome world for our enjoyment. After He created Adam and Eve he put them in the Garden of Eden to work it and care for it. 

     Someone has said, "Every April, God rewrites the Book of Genesis."  

     Spring seems to bring new hope and a freshness to our world. We often can get motivated to do the things that we keep "putting off 'til tomorrow."
     

     Looking back with a grateful heart, to my experiences of the past few months, I want to embrace each day with more of an acute awareness and wonder. 
     

     I want to see God's hand and beauty everywhere, even in the people He brings across my path. 

     

Be encouraged by the following:


     "Today, look at the blue sky, hear the grass growing beneath your feet, inhale the scent of spring, let the fruits of the earth linger on your tongue, reach out and embrace those you love. Ask (God's) Spirit to awaken your awareness to the sacredness of your sensory perceptions." 

 — Sarah Ban Breathnach

— beulah