Spring Refresh

Misty March Morning

We wake to fog…

A certain mist that covers

every tree and bush.

We wait for it to lift

as sunlight slowly filters in.

These misty mornings

so full of promise…

Beyond the veil

new beginnings

for us all.

The whisper of spring

has come, so soft,

like the morning fog.

It comes in drifts

of rain and misty dreams.

We cling to the sunlight,

hoping, waiting, believing.

It is there in the birds that flutter

so close to the veil, or do they fly right

through it?

They soar, these winged creatures

so, so, high, in the pewter sky.

I love to watch them; I remember

the sky is wide-open.

The dreams, they hover

in the misty places, just waiting

to break free, dancing in the

margins of a brand-new day.

Spring Refresh

It began to feel as though winter would never end this year! Ice and snow, snow and ice, and then a sprinkle more of sleet!

How wonderful to celebrate the arrival of spring with nature’s showcase of wonders. The daffodils did make their debut amidst the snow! I am always impressed with the daffodils. The ice may be clinging to the trees, but the daffodils are unstoppable. They miraculously survive the worst possible conditions each and every year.

Our town of Gloucester, Virginia, is known as the ‘Daffodil Capital of America.’ Due to the sandy soil, daffodils thrive beautifully here. You can see them everywhere, along roadsides, in fields growing randomly, and of course, in gardens. This year, Gloucester will celebrate the fortieth annual Daffodil Festival.

In the mid-1600s, early settlers to Gloucester brought daffodils to this area. They flourished so successfully that daffodils became a big business. In fact, in the 1930s and 1940s, daffodils became a major industry. Farmers shipped their lovely yellow blooms to northern cities via steamboat.

When the daffodils begin to bloom, I always catch a case of ‘spring fever’. Suddenly, I am spring cleaning indoors and working arduously in the yard outdoors. Our Corgi, Daisy, is happy to spend the day outside watching us work. She curls up in our tree garden and basks in the sunshine.

This past week, we had unseasonably warm weather. I knew it would not last, and my husband and I certainly made the most of it. Today, the temperature is dropping quickly and tonight, once again, they are calling for snow flurries.

It is wonderful to be in the garden in the early spring. Everything is starting to change. Little green shoots rise up out of the earth, and the bees begin to get very busy!

This week, I planted white perennial Candytuft, colorful pansies, and many little snapdragons. It is raining today and all these new plants are getting plenty of water. We actually had a thunderstorm this morning!

I have been raking out a trail in our back woods where the grandchildren can play. I absolutely love the woods this time of year. There is a ground cover that grows along the edge of the woods, and it has invaded the woods itself. This ground cover has little purple flowers that grow throughout the wooded area. There are also ancient ferns that grow quite large as the woods is undisturbed. I like to look for jack in the pulpits out there as well. I don’t pick them. I just like to look at them.

It is so very quiet, and so very beautiful in the woods with this green carpet. All you can hear is the occasional sound of a bird fluttering from tree to tree, or our dog, Daisy, when she has had enough of outside play. Yesterday, I heard the owls, but I did not see them. They come and go in our back woods and I do love to listen to them. It was late in the day when I heard them. Most often, I hear them in the evenings.

Spring is surely full of little miracles. It is still only early spring, and not officially spring until the twentieth of March, but it is amazing how each springtime wonder suddenly appears. (As I write this, it has started to snow!) Springtime weather is unpredictable!

Perhaps, part of the wonder of spring is the change we see within ourselves. Our hearts are gardens that gather many things. It can be a very beautiful garden, full of love, full of life. It is a garden that flourishes with great care. If we get too distracted and we don’t pay attention, the heart withers, and it is a sad place. Of course, there are always sad moments, and that is to be expected. But overall, a ‘happy heart’ welcomes joy just as springtime welcomes the warmth of the sun.

It is mid-March, a season of renewal. And after a long winter, we are ready for a spring refresh. We nurture our gardens and plant our seeds. Within our hearts, God does His work of renewal, planting seeds of love and flooding our souls with His abundant life-giving light.

It is almost Easter, and for those of us who are Easter people, this is a Holy time. We live our faith each and every day of the year, but Lent is a time for deeply searching our hearts. We want to be our very best selves, and we come before God asking for forgiveness and renewal. Only He, can bring true ‘springtime’ to our hearts.

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”