Spring Has Come

“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything." (Sonnet XCVIII) 

― William Shakespeare

Spring.  I remembered it as a child.  The sun would become warmer, the leaves would clothe the naked trees, the blossoms would explode with color on every bush and nearly every tree, and new life would unassumingly grow out of the once hard, winter ground in the form of tulips and daffodils and burst into exquisite glory and delicacy.  But I haven't lived through a Spring like this since 1996, and I feel like a giddy child again.  Yet this time I appreciate it more.  The verdure is breathtaking with all of

the hues of green, and I nearly have to wear sunglasses just to look at all of the brilliant colors...everywhere!  It is beautiful.  On my run this morning, the ground looked like snow from the cherry blossoms, the lilacs infused my nose with their glorious smell, and I stopped from time to time just to take it in.   

In life, we go through seasons.  Sometimes Winter can seem so long, so unwelcoming, so cold.  Sometimes we wonder if the trees will ever have leaves again, or if the wind will ever stop blowing, or the ground will ever produce a fresh, delicious crop again.  Sometimes our wondering is so severe that we miss the introspection that Winter can and should bring; maybe that's why Winter sometimes can seem like such a long season.  But Spring does come.  It does. And with it is a newness, an energy, an excitement that reminds all hearts to remember the Winter, but to relish in the beauty of the Spring.