Easter is here–still! Spring is all around and vibrant as can be. I sit on this beautiful April day, surrounded by buzzing bees, blooming flowers, chirping birds, green on the ground, and the warm sun shining down.
I am reflecting on my Lent.
I am a spring and summer girl. While I appreciate fall and winter for the holiday fun, it is not where my heart is. I fully believe in seasonal affective disorder; my mood definitely is changed by a bright and sunny day. There is hope. There is life.
It is so fitting to me that in this part of the world Lent falls in that late winter/early spring season. I am tired of cold and wind and grey all around. I long for the budding of trees and new spring blooms.
This year, my four year old and I would look for the “signs of spring” each morning on the way to preschool.
We would shout out anytime we saw a red bud with its magenta buds, dogwoods in white and pink, forsythia bushes with their bright yellow glow, cherry blossoms with their soft pink blooms. We would talk about how these are the first signs that winter is ending and spring is on its way.
We would laugh at the redbud being so silly because it is not red, but more pink/purple…”momma, that makes no sense!” I would tell her that my most favorite spring sign was the forsythia because the bright yellow just makes me happy. It occurred to me that this is also how I make it through my Lenten penances.
I look forward to the coming of Easter Season and the hope that the Resurrection brings.
When there is a bright light in the distance, a hope of renewal, a cleansing of our soul, it makes the penance more bearable. Just like the newest buds on spring trees gives hope that the warm weather is coming. What a generous gift of grace that Lent is in this “in between” time of the year. Just as we are ending our Lenten journey, we enter a season of literally new life here on Earth. We are given Life eternally in a most beautiful season of life here in our temporary home.
