Spring of the year is upon us.
The days suddenly grew longer on Sunday, and I suppose that’s okay.
While I do enjoy long nights and cold days spent in front of the fire, winter has come and gone.
Of course, we may still get another cold blast before it’s all said and done.
My grandmother always said we are never truly safe from the threat of a freeze until after Easter.
No matter when on the calendar Easter falls, she said we weren’t in the clear of cold weather until it had passed.
We had two very contrasting weather situations just last week.
Friday afternoon was a beautiful springtime collaboration of blue skies and perfect temperatures.
Then Saturday arrived—a cold, gray, crummy day that was perfect for staying indoors with a book. Then we were back to warmer weather on Monday.
But, alas, springtime is on its way. The pink flowers of the Oklahoma Redbud in my yard are starting to peek out.
Before too long, the green of the sycamore will return, and the pecan trees will no longer look like frail old skeletons of their former selves. They will be full again.
Such is life— the seasons, and their promise, that everything will come back again.
It’s like that old Harry Chapin song, “Circle”:
“All my life’s a circle
Sunrise and sundown
The moon rose through the nighttime
Till the day break comes around
All my life’s a circle
But I can’t tell you why
The seasons spinning round again
The years keep rolling by”
The changing of the seasons is a promise—a reminder that we will persist. Life renews itself, and even when life ends, it regenerates. The world keeps spinning. The seasons keep turning.
There’s a lot of doom and gloom on TV and social media these days.
Trade wars, recessions, inflation, new viruses, sickness, assaults, plane crashes, people dying—it’s all extremely overwhelming.
It’s hard not to get bogged down by it all, but we can’t let it consume us. We must persist.
It’s with persistence that we find hope to make it through to the other side.
Songwriter Lukas Nelson, son of the legendary Willie Nelson, speaks to this sentiment in his song “Turn off the News (Build a Garden)”:
“Trust builds trust
All that negativity’s a bust
Trust builds trust
Don’t you wanna be happy?
Turn off the news and build a garden
Just my neighborhood and me
We might feel a bit less hardened
We might feel a bit more free
Turn off the news and raise the kids
Give them something to believe in
Teach them how to be good people
Give them hope that they can see
Hope that they can see
Turn off the news and build a garden with me”
Lukas is right.
Look around your house and count your blessings. Read a book. Tell a joke. Call an old college friend and catch up. Tell somebody you love them.
Turn off the news. Build a garden, for it is the spring of the year, and there is no better time than now.