The Promise of Spring

The Promise of Spring

Winter tarries much too long at four thousand feet above sea level.
Here in Calgary, spring comes late and fitfully. We had snow again last week on the last week of April and probably will have some yet in May too. I’ve come to accept that spring here is really a wrestling match between winter and summer, as makes for a long time of waiting.
You see in Calgary, the flowers are pretty much gone in September.
By the first of October, the aspens start turning gold and drop their leaves in a week or two, and come November, all is gray.
Initially, I don’t mind. The coming of winter has its joys, and there are Thanksgiving and Christmas to look forward to.
Though right after the New Year, things begin to drag on.
Through February and then March, the earth remains lifeless. The whole world lies shadowed in brown and gray tones, like an old photograph. Winter’s novelty is long past, and by April we are longing for some sign of life some color, some hope for this is just too long.
Then yesterday, I rounded the corner into our neighborhood, and suddenly, the world was green again. What had been rock and twig and dead mulch was a rich oriental carpet of green. I was shocked, stunned. How did it happen?
As if in disbelief, I got out of my car and began to walk through this clump of trees, touching every leaf. The birds are back as well, waking us in the morning with their glad songs, as I thought early yesterday it was my brakes squealing again. This all happened suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye.
My surprise is telling, as it seems natural to long for spring, it is another thing to be completely stunned by its return. I am truly and genuinely surprised, as if my reaction were, "Really, what are you doing here?"
Then I realized, I thought I’d never see spring again. I think in some deep place inside, I had accepted the fact that winter had become forever and so, I am shocked by the return of spring.
So I wonder, can the same thing happen for my soul? As with all the things that have happened to us lately, I feel as if my eternal wintered soul, is longing for God’s promise of His spring. So I have to ask you my friends, what about yours?

With Love From,

Sir Richard...