Blossoms and Leaves

I love spring.  I came to the realization today of one of the reasons I like it so well.  The trees are so gorgeous!  Whether they are leafing out or blooming like crazy.  However, there are some trees that I cannot stand to smell.  They have a sort of "manliness" to them that make me gag.  (I won't post it here.....well, maybe sometime, to explain.)  

Anyway, its amazing how much more clothed the world seems to be in spring.  I mean houses that were revealed through the nakedness of the winter cold and barren trees are now hidden behind the softness and baby growth of the strong timbers that birthed them.  I love being in that camouflage peering through as if spying on the rest of civilization.  

It's like God has once again wrapped his loving arms around us in a beautiful tapestry of color and grace.  The pinks and greens of spring will soon give way to the vibrant reds and oranges of my liking that announce that summer is on the way.  

The boisterous colors will be displayed over so much more real estate, like my backyard garden.  Where the tomatoes will bloom and sugar peas will climb and burst into color and fruit.  Where carrots will green and soften the harshness of the red NC mud underneath.  Corn will burst towards the sky and silks will blow in the wind reaching for the sunshine and catch the morning dew and applaud at the drops of water falling daily.  I just wish I remembered this feeling of excitement when I am wintering over. 

God is preparing the soil through the winter.  Warming the bulbs of the Iris' and Tulips to bring them to a heartier fruition in the dawn of April.  He does this for us, too, ya know.  Takes us through our pruning, our dying back of our green, luscious leaves to the dark underground of our lives.  He takes us there to nourish us through that winter in our world, that cold, dark, windy, brisk, chill-to-the-bone time.  Because in that darkness is the nourishment that He can only give.  The nourishment that would've been wasted on blooms and leaves and growing things.  The nourishment that enhances the deepest and strongest roots.  It's not necessarily strength for the next springtime of our lives, but the next winter.  The one where we will be more prepared, equipped, ready and able to handle the cold and the darkness.

Thank you God for your infinite wisdom in my life.  Thank you for helping me to winter over and see the spring.  Thank you for giving us life, eternal life, where love springs eternal as well.  Thank you God!