Spring (Ish)

 It's that time of year when the days are getting longer and the songbirds are back chirping joyfully in the morning light.  Sparkling little rivers run down the streets under the warmth of the afternoon sun, and you can feel the light, playful breeze stirring the alders along the creek...spring is here.  Well...almost here.  It's definitely starting! Pretty sure...

I love walking this time of year, looking for signs of spring.  Sometimes here in Ontario, it can be very hard to spot.  You can still see a lot of snow, especially in the bush and in any shaded spots. The piles of snow in the parking lots and along the sidewalks and trails are coarse, gritty and grey looking.  There are lots of dead grasses and shrubs and the inevitable garbage slowly revealed by the melting snow...soggy papers, crumpled coffee cups, candy wrappers...the odd lost mitten or sock. 

Sometimes I look at my life and that's what I see:  

 Sodden newspapers with once important headlines,

 remnants of coffee cups and chocolate bars,                                                                                         dead grass and sticks. Mud.  

But when I'm out walking this time of year, I see other things too...I see the fuzzy soft pussy willows along the creek and the bright red twigs of dog wood brightening the dull landscape.  I see the little bits of green grass along the side of buildings.  Along the side of the trail, if I look closely, I can see the reddish-brown bits of fern starting to grow underneath the dead leaves of last year.  And in the neighbourhood flower beds, the first tulips and daffodils are breaking through the ground.  And I can't help but think that this is sometimes what Hope looks like...it's the tiny signs of life persistently showing up, even though it keeps snowing...even though everything looks dead, and brown...even when all we can see on the surface of our lives is mud and garbage.

Before long, a soft green haze will start to soften all the dead looking branches, and the creek will flow freely and happily.  And there will be flowers.  In my neighbourhood, everyone puts out flowers as fast as they can, in planters and window boxes, setting them out almost before it's quite warm enough.  Before we even have our annual neighbourhood Spring clean-up day.  The dead grass and leaves are still there.  Even some trash is still there.  But everyone sees the flowers.  

        And that's what I think Grace is like.  

It doesn't hide the things that still need to be cleaned up, 

        or the work that is yet to be done...                                      

    but it draws our attention to the beauty that is there instead. 

So, keep looking for the flowers!  (Even if it snows again)

Happy Spring Everyone!

Sincerely, 

Sarah