When Spring Has Sprung

Since moving to New England, two months have been competing for my absolute favorite time of year, one of which is May. (If you’re curious, the other is October.) And since it’s a tropical 63 degrees right now smack-dab in the middle of February, it’s easy to daydream that spring is really here. I’m a fan of pretending; my home is already decked out in florals and pastels. Let’s look forward together, shall we?

After months and months—and months—of bleak grey skies and naked trees shivering, the world fairly literally springs to life. Lawn mowers tackle the grass again, birds are going crazy, the same trees that were so pitiful weeks ago burst into a haze of pinks and purples and greens and whites. The oversized sweaters get tucked away, and out come the breezy fabrics in a cotton candy color palette. Hands covered in soft dirt plant new life. The spicy chai and hot cocoa are exchanged for iced tea (at least a Southern girl can dream), and the windows fly open so fast it could make your head spin.

I love the way the Message paraphrases the first 8 verses of Ecclesiastes 3:

There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth: a right time for birth and another for death, a right time to plant and another to reap, a right time to kill and another to heal, a right time to destroy and another to construct, a right time to cry and another to laugh, a right time to lament and another to cheer, a right time to make love and another to abstain, a right time to embrace and another to part, a right time to search and another to count your losses, a right time to hold on and another to let go, a right time to rip out and another to mend, a right time to shut up and another to speak up, a right time to love and another to hate, a right time to wage war and another to make peace.

If there is a season, a right time to do everything, what does that mean for you personally? Might this spring be the right time to kick off your shoes and dance in the puddles? To make a new friend? To whisper your hopes out loud (or to let God give you His hopes for your life)? To clear your calendar so you can spend the day with your family playing in the sprinkler? To create a mural on your driveway with sidewalk chalk? To go on a coffee date with no one but God? To clear out your space and give the excess away? To breathe deeply (physically and emotionally)?

Spring is the time for new beginnings. Which projects or dreams have sat around waiting for a fresh wind? How can you clean off your plate at the same time you purge your closet? Oh, friends, may you feel permission to rest. And then to offer your best as you walk back out into the world, brimming with possibility. And, if you’re lucky, a glass of iced tea.

For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

(Song of Solomon 2:11-12)