Spring Snow
Spring had arrived--according to the date. After, what seemed to be a long drawn out winter, spring was finally in the air. Each day the days were a bit longer. The air held a promise of warmth. The winds melted the snow. The sun melted the snow. The rain melted the snow. The earth was green and brown--rather than white with snow. Crocus, daffodils, and tulips broke through the earth and began to send out leaves with delicate buds slowly unfurling themselves. At last, it was SPRING.
After having piles and piles of snow surrounding homes, drives, sidewalks, making mounds in parking lots, and burying the land everything seemed to be waking up and just on the edge of bursting forth in new growth. It started out as a beautiful day. Temperatures were in the upper forties. A gentle rain began to fall.
Wait--that isn't rain; it's white; and fluffy; and snow--wet, fluffy flakes of snow. The temperature dropped. The ground was covered in white fluff. The wind began to blow. The air was white. It was the first snow of spring.
As the wind howled, the ground froze. Ice formed a solid footing for the fresh snowfall. The ground and trees were blanketed once again. Spring flowers were buried in mounds of white and shivered in the cold. The animals in the fields huddled together once more for warmth. The world slowly ground to a halt. The mad dance celebrating spring, life was brought to a halt once more.
Some took the opportunity to sow grass seed in the spring snow to replenish or improve their yards. Others played once again with sleds and built snowmen. A few made "snow cream" as a wish for summer and a remembrance of winter. Some cursed the snow while others celebrated the moisture it gave to the earth. Spring snow--nature's reminder of the old season while hoping for the new.
Spring snow--whether one loves it or not provides an opportunity for reflection and still holds a promise of what is to come. The texture is different. It feels different. It has more nitrogen to feed the newly thawed soil and replenish its nutrients--preparing it for planting. Spring snow gives us hope.
Easter is much like spring snow. It bridges the past to the future. Easter is a time when our souls turn from the season of Lent--reflection, self-examination--to the celebration of the hope, faith, and love we share and hold dear. Like the earth, our souls thaw from the holding tight to what we think we must and open ourselves to what we can become. We draw nourishment, knowledge, and peace from the time of reflection as we nurture the seedlings that sprout within us.
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. (Ecc. 3:1-8)
God as we find our souls enveloped in spring snow, help us to embrace it, learn from it, and open ourselves to the nutrients it brings--and the promise of spring. Open our hearts and minds to you. So be it. Amen.
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