The Surprise of Spring

I’m expecting it.

I’m waiting for it.

I’m yearing for it.

And yet, every year spring arrives as a bit of a surprise.

Winter is long and even when I’m embracing the slower, darker season, I feel myself go a bit dormant. As if I’m stuck in time and winter will never end.

Then suddenly, spring is here.

I know I’m being overly dramatic, but the shift from winter to spring is dramatic. It astounds me every year. The winter-deadened world comes back to life in spring. And I come back to life, too.

No other time of year is as magical. Green shoots push out of the soil where moments before was nothing. Flowers — FLOWERS! — begin to appear. Color returns. Sounds. Warmth. Fragrances. The first harvests. Spring is a season for all of my senses.

Every year it is a surprise. A miracle. A reawakening. My heart sings. I feel energized and inspired.

Migrating birds return. They build nests and nurture families. Butterflies and bees appear, even more eager for flowers than I am.

In December I refuted the idea that winter is something to get through. But by the time spring is here for real, winter’s charms have faded and it feels like I’ve barely managed to make it till spring.

Some years it’s harder than others.

Each of us live through personal seasons of life, periods connected and disconnected from nature’s cycles. We all have metaphorical winters to get through. Sometimes those winters linger through many of nature’s seasons.

Life in the world feels especially heavy this year — on top of whatever else we’re enduring — and there isn’t a spring on the horizon with a promise to ease the stresses and struggles.

At times like these I find it’s even more important to tune in to nature. I take a moment to watch the robins building their nest. I walk through the garden multiple times each day, looking for each new sprout. I plant seeds and tend myself in the process.

Spring’s arrived just in time.