This is how I feel today. “Sometimes I just look up, smile and say, ‘I know that was you. Thank you.’” A beautiful child was welcomed into our family this morning, a sweet girl baby joining a darling older brother and sister. This makes five grandchildren for baby brother. I still see my youngest brother as a little boy, not a seasoned grandfather. He and youngest sister-in-law brought the new baby’s older brother and sister for a short visit late afternoon so they could tell me about their new baby sister. Those two are precious children and so full of personality. Four-year-old brother was excited about the baby. Two-year-old sister displayed the inherited family scowl when I asked her about the baby. Looking forward to meeting this little jewel. She carries my name Lane as her middle name which thrills me. Our family celebrates her birth as spring blesses the awakening earth.

Today was a lovely spring day. Mother Nature has such a wondrous watercolor palette of spring colors. I saw a raspberry redbud entwined with bright yellow wild jasmine vines, the contrasting colors so eye catching I thought only Mother Nature’s paintbrushes could create something so beautiful. The earth is dressing in her spring greenery in a myriad of glorious greens. William Wordsworth writes of spring, “I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o’er vales and hills, when all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils; beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”

Spring is a season of renewal and new growth. The Song of Solomon 2:11-12 reads, “For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing has come, And the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.” I think that’s a beautiful verse of scripture. Spring can also be a spiritual awakening. The optimism of spring gives us an opportunity to reflect on our spiritual life. The darkness of winter is gone and we can reflect on the light and warmth of God and the transformative power of faith. I think spring reminds us that God can make things new. Spring rejuvenates us and gives us hope in our lives and in our faith. Lady Bird Johnson wrote, “Where flowers bloom so does hope.” The drabness of winter and its darkness is thrown off the land and the earth is born again in a glorious warmth of sunshine and colors. In Revelations 21:15 Jesus promises to make everything new. “Behold, I am making all things new. Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

When we pray, we sometimes have to wait for God’s answer to our prayers. It’s hard to be patient in the darkness but if we’re patient, our spring of faith will bloom with God’s grace as he answers our prayers. Patiently waiting for God to speak brings us closer to our heavenly home. When we trust in God for our salvation we become a new creation through the power of the Holy Spirit. Second Corinthians 5:17 reads, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

“The beautiful spring came, and when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also.” — Harriet Ann Jacobs