Whatever the Season

 Excerpted from a column written in 2012 and published in the Chapel Hill News and Views magazine.

After the chilly, dreary days of winter, we long for spring, for signs of new life, for splashes of color, for warmer temperatures so that we can end our hibernation and get out and about once again.

We long for the time when we can say, “… the winter is past, and the rain is over and gone. The flowers are springing up, and the time of singing birds has come … The fig trees are budding, and the grapevines are in blossom. How delicious they smell! Yes, spring is here!” (Song of Songs, 2:11-13a.)

But sometimes we feel stuck in one season — in life, as well as in nature — don’t we? For example, children often feel they’ll be children forever! They long to grow up and do the things big people do. Likewise, people who are battling an illness may see no end to that season.

Whenever we’re feeling stuck, it’s good to remind ourselves of this truth: “There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest … A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance … ” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-4).

Although we like some seasons better than others, we benefit from experiencing a variety of seasons and cycles, else the Creator wouldn’t have designed them. In fact, we need the harshness and bleakness of winter in order to appreciate the warmth and beauty of spring. As 17^th century poet Anne Bradstreet pointed out, “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”

So … whatever time, whatever season, we find ourselves in, especially if we’re feeling stuck in it, let’s follow David’s example and humbly say to God, “My times are in thy hand …” (Psalm 31:15, KJV).

 Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quoted is from the New Living Translation.

Lessons from the Flowers

One afternoon in late February, I lingered in the yard, enjoying the springlike weather and the sight and sound of many birds. When I saw the daffodils blooming profusely by the sidewalk, I decided to take a photo of them to text to my friend who loves flowers and grows pretty ones in her yard, as well as inside her house. But since it’s been snowing in recent days where she lives, and morning temperatures have been well below freezing, I knew it’d be a while before she’d have flowers in her yard.

After taking several photos, I sat down on a nearby bench to look at them. I chose my favorite one and considered cropping it in order to draw more attention to the blooms. But I hesitated, sensing there were lessons to be learned from the flowers.  

For example, one daffodil, once standing tall like the others, was now bent way over. By the wind? By an animal? Yet, it was still lovely, still very much a daffodil despite its droopy appearance. 

Close by the clump of yellow and white daffodils, a cluster of tender shoots stood about six inches above the pine straw. Soon they'd be in full bloom and adding bright splashes of color to the landscape.

Although some of the daffodils were more eye-catching than others, all were lovely in their various stages of growth. All were very much alive. All were a vital part of the environment.

Might that be true of people as well?

It's Time to Praise

A few days after I’d taken photos of spring blooms, I read The Making of the Beautiful: The Life Story of Annie Johnson Flint. (She wrote many of the hymns we love, including He Giveth More Grace.)

One of the poems interspersed in the telling of her story is Spring Song of Praise. In it, the poet imagines all of creation being “roused from winter’s chilling dream” and beginning to praise the Lord.

That’s an apt description of springtime, isn’t it? A world that has seemed asleep—even dead—begins to show signs of awakening, signs of coming to life.

Buds and blooms and bees and birds suddenly appear everywhere. And what a delight they are. How the sight of them lifts our spirits. How the sight of them should cause you and me to join them in songs of praise to our Creator.

One of my favorites is This Is My Father’s World.* What’s yours?

* written by Maltbie Davenport Babcock and published in 1901

God's Beautiful World

He [God] has made everything beautiful in its time. 

Ecclesiastes 3:11, NKJV

Especially in springtime, I readily acknowledge the truth of those words that are in the Bible. 

As I look around at the beautiful world God created, I also think about how He continues to keep everything running on schedule—the seasons, the tides, the sun, the moon….

I conclude that God likes orderliness and harmony—not only in the natural world He created but in every situation.  

Therefore, I say to Him, “O Father, help me to love beauty and orderliness and harmony—like You do. Help me to do all I can to create them wherever I am."

Beautiful Springtime!

Azaleas blooming beside my front porch (2006).

Today is the first official day of spring! Oh, and I do love springtime! Don’t you?

For several weeks now, the flowers have been slowly appearing, bringing such beautiful colors to the landscape. A few hummingbirds have returned to summer in our neighborhood. Soon a dozen or more of them will be zipping around our yard, pausing for a few seconds to sip nectar from one of the three feeders on the deck, and delighting us with their antics and high energy. The temperatures have warmed, compelling us to come out and enjoy the sunshine.

Everything seems to have come alive—filling hearts with hope of better and brighter days. 

In springtime, I delight in seeing what God does with a drab and dirty world and am filled with heightened awareness that He can also create amazing transformations within me—and within you, too!

A Song of Praise

I made this collage while learning how to use new (FREE!) software I downloaded. As I worked, I thought about the words in Folliott S. Pierpoint's song For the Beauty of the Earth, which was published in 1864. 

For the beauty of the earth, 

For the glory of the skies,

For the love which from our birth, 

Over and around us lies:

Christ our God to thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

Amen.

Since those ancient words express the thoughts of MY heart whenever I see beauty all around me, I often personalize them in this way and use them as a prayer:

For the beauty of the earth, 

For the glory of the skies,

For the love which from my birth, 

Over and around me lies:

Christ my God to thee I raise

This my hymn of grateful praise. 

Amen.

Spring!

Spring shows what God can do 
with a drab and dirty world.

~Rev. Virgil A. Kraft (1910-1988)

Proclaim God's Glory!

Toledo (Ohio) Botanical Garden

I will proclaim the name of the LORD:

how glorious is our God!

He is the Rock; His work is perfect.

Everything He does is just and fair.

He is a faithful God who does no wrong;

how just and upright He is!

~Moses in Deuteronomy 32:3-4

Golden Daffodils

Prior to going to see the 20 million daffodils blooming on hillsides, woodlands, and valleys at Gibbs Garden in Ballground, GA, I visited the garden’s website (www.gibsgardens.com) to find out more about the place my neighbor and I and two of her friends (who are now my friends, too) were going. On the website, I found a couple of lines from a poem written by William Wordsworth and published in 1807.

 

Since I loved the words in the poem, I searched for information about it. I learned that the inspiration for the poem had come during a walk the poet had taken with his niece Dorothy on April 15, 1802.  The two of them were enthralled by the “long belt” of daffodils growing along the seashore. Wordsworth later wrote “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” (also known as “Daffodils”), which became his most famous work.

 

Since my humble words can't compare with those of the famous poet, I'll gladly let his words speak for me. Even though, like Wordsworth, I am no longer at the site where I first saw the acres of golden daffodils, I can still see them with my "inward eye." Like Wordsworth, the mental pictures fills my heart, again and again, with pleasure. I have no way of knowing whether or not such images caused Wordsworth to praise and thank the Creator for His work, but I know that, time and time again, they motivate me to praise His handiwork and to thank Him for the opportunity to see it.

 

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

and twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretched in never-ending line

along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

in such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

what wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

            

  ~William Wordsworth