Tears & Laughter: The Welcoming Warmth of Spring

The lessons of baseball and life begin in spring – play by the rules, try your best, and the sun will still come up again if you lose.

Farmers keep pace with the changing seasons. The American food grower knows to bend with these changes, but they are sustained by the promises of spring. If there is another spring, there will be another chance.

Not bound by the set dates on the calendar, the remnants of winter are sometimes slow to go, but soon the sun’s warmth will grow stronger every day. Freshly planted seeds will respond, raising green flags of life.

Gardeners are a unique group. They will go out and inspect these pale green sprigs, then over the following few days find reason to inspect them repeatedly…it is just what gardeners do. It is part of the joy.

The same soft breezes that make curtains stand out a little when the windows are open, spray pollen though the flower beds, and across the corn fields, and onto all the cars, and porches, and yard furniture.

Yards are alive with singing birds, whose eggs nestled safely in their nests will soon erupt into feathery balls. Cattle following their well-worn trails will begin to have pink-tongued calves running along beside them.

The same sun that warms new life, tracks early age across our faces…one of the many equal opposites in nature.

I read once that God and man are at odds on order. Spring cleaning always reminds me of its truth.

There is a pleasure that comes with having everything in order. We all tend to strive for it.

Order is when everything is in its place. When all the dishes are washed and stacked in their cabinets. When all the laundry is not just washed and folded but ironed and hung and all put away in their drawers and closets.

Order is when all the beds are made, and the throw pillows set at right angles. When there are no papers or books cluttering the living room.

It is when the floors are all swept and vacuumed, and clean rugs wait at the front door to greet visitors.

It is when today`s supper is on the stove and tomorrow’s is planned, leaving extra time for garden inspections.

The azaleas are almost in full bloom. Daffodils and tulips planted generations ago have sprouted and opened, wisteria is cascading from fines in lavender and purple. Fruit trees are blooming, as are dogwoods and dewberries.

Honeysuckles vines and jasmine are beginning to climb – as the bees serenade their beauty and ring in the beginning of spring.