Spring has Sprung! The spring season is my favorite time of year! Who can not be heartened by the changes in our natural world that speak to new life and vibrancy? The ice and snow are fading away as the sun shines warmly and the earth awakens. The colors change from brown and dead to green and alive. New life erupts all around us with flowers blooming, trees leafing out, birds singing and courting, and the first butterflies appearing. What a time to celebrate life and reawakening!
I can’t help but smile as I hear the birds sing and see the bright greens, yellows, blues and purples of the many spring plants exuberantly blooming and bursting out with their own silent songs and celebrations of new life. My smiles turn to laughter as I witness the interactions of the many birds, insects and other wildlife around me during this “life-building” time of year. Sometimes it seems that the natural world is laughing too, in celebration of its new life.
Sharing in the New Beginning…or Disconnected?
Where would we be without laughter and the new hope it brings, that pushes away the darkness? Laughter is great medicine; it seems to change how we view the world. Great comfort, peace and appreciation can be found in Nature, when one takes the time to learn about and understand that other world around us. With the spring laughter and exuberance of new life, also comes an appreciation of God’s wonderful creative power as expressed in the wonderful varieties of plants, insects, birds, mammals, fish and people that come to life each spring.
Yet, there seems to be a great disconnect between people today and the natural world around us. That disconnect can cause us to miss blessings and opportunities to share in Nature’s new life each spring. Instead, people travel long distances in search of that beauty in more famous parts of our great nation. We usually don’t have to travel long distances to find these simple pleasures; often they’re present in our own backyards!
Spiritual as well as Physical Beginnings
This spring season of new life parallels our Christian Easter Season; which celebrates our season of new life through Jesus’ resurrection. What a wonderful thought to carry with us as we greet the new life of God’s spring season around us. Combining the resurrection of Jesus Christ and our spiritual selves during the Easter season, with an appreciation of the “spring resurrection” of the natural world around us, seems fitting. We too emerge as new creations; resurrected into a new life, like the many plants and wildlife around us.
Better Stewards?
So, Spring is the perfect time for us to consider new life, resurrection and joy. It’s the time to celebrate and greet our brothers and sisters with smiles, laughter and other forms of God’s love. This spiritual love and laughter can also transform us into more caring stewards for the woodlands, grasslands, wetlands that God has given to us, along with the many wildlife communities that live there. We can learn to find goodness and laughter there, if we make the time to reconnect with these places. Job says it well in the Old Testament (Job 12: 7-9): “But, now ask the beasts to teach you, and the birds of the air to tell you; or the reptiles on earth to instruct you, and the fish of the sea to inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of God has done this.“
So, Celebrate and Laugh with Nature!
So, find the time to reconnect with the many natural, living places and things that are coming to new life around you this spring. Then the rest will follow naturally… the smiles, enjoyment and laughter, as they once again begin a fresh start. The great thing is we will all be laughing together!
