(Their body language says, “Ain’t nothin’ there, lady.”)
It is always amazing to be outside and see how the earth wakes up after the winter. So many things have been happening all along, but we only notice when that green shoot breaks ground, or that bud starts to swell.
Tony always recites Robert Frost’s poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” in spring. (And if he forgets, I remind him!)
Nothing Gold Can Stay
by Robert Frost
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
It’s a bit of a melancholy poem for the first day of spring, isn’t it? But we do well to remember that some of the most beautiful things in this life come when we least expect it, and are gone before we know it.
So many times I look back at our lives through pictures, and I think, “What a beautiful time that was!” But I know full well that it seemed ordinary to me at the time.
I do tend to take things for granted, and that’s a tricky thing. Taking something for granted means that we have grown used to it. We expect it and trust it. We don’t worry about it going missing.
It is good to pause and look around at those precious, familiar things, and just take a moment to appreciate them. For instance, look at the evidence of God’s love all around us: The sun in the morning, the dew that refreshes the earth, the tulips that are just emerging, the song of the summer birds (which is, for the moment, still new!)
Look at the people you are closest to, and take a moment to appreciate them. Try to look through new eyes, as if you have just met him or her. Were their eyes always that blue? We notice a lot more when we first meet someone. But since you love them, those little things mean all the more! Love is everywhere around us, but sometimes we don’t have eyes to see it. Look for it, and remember to consciously provide it.
One thing we can count on while we are still living on this earth is that things are going to change. Sometimes our circumstances will become easier, and sometimes they will get harder. But when things stop growing and changing, they die. And we do, too.
Growth can be messy, but there are moments that come shining through, like a blossom, and then the struggle it took to get to that moment suddenly seems worthwhile!
Just as it happens with a blossom, things in your life have been happening out-of-sight for a long time so that the “bloom” could happen. Sometimes we just have to trust the process and know that the Lord is in charge of all these things. And if He knows it’s good for you, then when it’s the right time, that thing you have been waiting for will happen.
The blossom won’t last. That is one of the things that makes flowers so special: It’s rare. So much energy goes into making that flower, but it only lasts for hours or up to a few days.
All of these wonderful moments were designed by God. Do you hear the song of a bird who has been long absent? It only takes a moment to pause and listen, to appreciate the song. I urge you to stop and smell the flower, or notice the sunset. These moments lift and refresh us, like little sips of water on a very dry day. They are mini-mental rest stops provided by our heavenly Father who loves us!
I hope it’s sunny and blue, warm and lovely where you are! But even if it isn’t, you know it soon will be, and hope makes all the difference!
God bless you, my dear friends, on this first weekend of Spring!
The Fullers Four 