Monday March 14 2016  SPRING HAS SPRUNG

We are preparing for spring.  Spring in Wisconsin is a BIG EVENT!  When you must bundle up just to go to the mailbox it doesn’t make for exciting visits out.  When the temperature gets up to 40 degrees F. the students at the local schools can start wearing shorts.  I kid you not.  Forty degrees, and above, you will notice a plethora of bare, white legs hanging out below shorts. 

I didn’t realize it was so hot yesterday.  I think it actually hit 50 degrees or higher.  Well, I dressed WRONG for that temperature.  I wore pants, a long sleeved cotton blouse and a long wool sweater over it.  I also had a warm shawl over that.  By the time I got to church I was sweating.  I had the windows down in the car and I was still overly warm.  First thing when I arrived in the foyer of church was to get rid of my shawl.  I was still hot however.  I couldn’t take my sweater off because it was the “outfit” of what I was wearing.  I sat in church feeling like I was going through the change of life again.  Believe me, it didn’t take long for me to shed that wool sweater when I arrived home.  The temperature is so variable at this time of year and I haven’t yet acclimated to the change in weather.  From here forward I will check the current forecast before getting dressed.

I wonder what it will be like to go from Wisconsin to Southern Florida in just two or three days of driving.  Fortunately Rebecca has air conditioning!  

Wisconsin’s springtime is so unbelievably beautiful to behold.  It is very early and the ground has not yet warmed up from the snow melt.  But even this early, something new is happening in the yard every single day.  Today I heard birds for the first time.  To hear birds is something I NEVER TAKE FOR GRANTED.  For newcomers to my blog I’ll bring you up to date about that comment.  For years I could not hear birds, except the crow, and only because their voice sounds like a high shrill scream.  For several years my hearing was diminishing as it has for so many others in my family due to a hereditary condition.  I could usually hear okay in a one to one conversations but not if there was background noise.  Watching television was an entertainment of the past.  One day, a few years ago, my husband and I were outside and I mentioned to my husband how sad it was that our woods no longer had birds.  He said what do you mean?  I told him to listen, there were no sounds of birds singing.  He said, that’s not true.  He told me that he could hear them singing all around him. That was an eye opening remark for me.  Hearing is a loss that you don’t at first notice.  When I didn’t hear a sound it was as if the sound just didn’t exist.  It only becomes apparent when I realize that others were hearing what I could not hear. I hadn’t heard birds for years, so therefore I perceived them not to be there.  Nor did I hear them for several more years.

I was enrolled at a class at our church and it seemed that the teacher did not project his voice.  I was desperately trying to hear him.  The leader finally became exasperated with my insistence that he talk louder. He asked that the class gather around me and pray that my hearing would be restored.  AND IT WAS!  At first I could not tell that it was restored.  I believe God allowed it to come back slowly.  I had difficulty adjusting to the normal noises of the world around me.  Traffic noise was especially difficult.  My healing happened in October 2013.  Later that same month I walked outside and for the first time in many years I heard the sound of a bird calling to its mate.  I will never forget that moment.  Well, today when I stepped out of the car after Dave and arrived home I could hear the sound of bird song in the trees all around me.  Many different kinds of tweets and warbles, and cooing.  It was exhilarating for me!  I went out into the yard and just turned around looking for all the birds.  Once I heard them I could pick out where they were.  Every day for me is a day of wonder.  Especially in the spring.  I am glad that Dave decided we should not leave on our trip at this time. 

Never take the sound of a bird song for granted.  It is proof of life and of a loving God who created so many creatures for our enjoyment.  The world at springtime is the promise of new life in much the same way that we celebrate THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS.  New life!  And the promise of an everlasting life.  

Last year I experienced both a sorrow and a blessing at the same time.  The sorrow was I left home the beginning of March, returning in July, thus missing our entire spring.  I missed all the flowers popping up as the sun warmed the soil.  I missed all the hundreds of hostas nosing their way through the soil and rocks that surround our entire yard.  I missed the trillium in full bloom along the back of our house and down toward the terrace.  I missed the May Apples in the woods and the Jack (or is it Peter?) in the Pulpit.  It seems that because we live at the edge of a wooded area, we experience new profusions of little plants awakening week after week.  We have wild geranium, blue bells, mustard plants, lupines, berry bushes, cyclamen, lily of the valley, daffodils and tulips, bleeding hearts, fox glove, lobelia, honeysuckle, lady slipper, phlox, nettles, Queen Anne’s Lace, and last but not least, pokeweed.  Pokeweed is a horrible plant that would not even be in our woods if it hadn’t been for my allowing mama to plant some that she brought from Arkansas.  Pokeweed is now our nightmare plant that is determined to inhabit our land and take over our woods!  Dave has an ongoing battle with it year after year.  The sin of Adam is felt greatly in the backbreaking labor it takes to dig out that weed!  

This year I will enjoy what early days of spring are afforded to my time here.  When we return from out trip our yard will not look the same as it did when we left. 

Last year as I headed south the blessing I experienced was the blessing of a perpetual spring for weeks and weeks.  It seemed that as I arrived at destinations each place experienced later than normal springs.  I seemed to arrive in the midst of early spring bloom.  My perpetual spring was all the way through Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Southern California and even up into Northern California.  Once I traveled north of San Francisco spring was pretty much past and summer was in moderate swing, meaning the summer sun was not as intense as it would eventually climb, but the spring rush of early flowers was past.  Still, it was beautiful!  The farther north I drove the cooler it became again.

Enough about last year.  This year I will enjoy every day I am here.  I know I may miss the tulips blooming around the capitol building and may miss the lilacs blooming at the Arboretum.  Right now spring appears to be doing its best to arrive early so I will enjoy whatever happens as it happens.

Wherever you live, stop and take a look outside.  Is spring coming in your neck of the woods?  Stop to smell the flowers!  Regardless where you live, when new life abounds, take time to enjoy it.  All life is a miracle.  Each day is to be enjoyed. 

As I write this I am saddened because I know someone who cannot enjoy the outdoors due to her body not tolerating the smells that nature provides without her becoming quite ill.  Stop and give thanks to God for all you are able to do and enjoy.  Not everyone is so fortunate.  If you have vision, give thanks for that.  If you can hear, give thanks for that.  If you can smell and enjoy the fragrances of the world, give thanks for that.  If you can walk without pain, give thanks.  There is always something in which to give thanks.

EXPERIENCING BEAUTY AND GRACE

By Kathleen Martens

March 14 2016  

What eyes see and ears behold,

Give thanks.  Let God be told

How much you appreciate what he gives

While on this earth where you live.

Take nothing for granted lest it be lost,

Then you will understand what is the cost.

When a bird, you no longer hear,

You never even know it is near.

If you can’t see the color of a rose,

Enjoy its fragrance through your nose.

If you can’t hear the sound of a bird,

Let your vision speak what is unheard.

If you cannot walk to enjoy evening air,

Take a ride and view here and there.

Whatever it is you cannot do,

God offers a way that will see you through.

Even in suffering give thanks to God

For all the beauty that grows from sod.

And through the pain life brings your way

Appreciate something each and every day.

Allow God’s love to be the song you can’t hear.

Let His sunshine kiss away each tear.

Permit His Presence to be your spring,

If you have no voice, allow your heart to sing.

Regardless the burden, though heavy it be

Offer thanks for salvation, it will set you free.

God has promised that you will not lack.

What you can’t do, He’ll pick up your slack.

He will fill you with joy to the very brim,

All He asks is that you dwell with Him.

Seek Him diligently, He offers peace,

And His love for you will never cease.

I think this poem was put in my heart because I know there are some who read my blog that are in the midst of trial and suffering.  I do not mean for the words of the poem to seem condescending or trite in light of what I know many are going through emotionally, and or physically.  If you have even one thing that you can think of to be thankful for, remember to give God thanks.  God hears your thanks.  He delights in your praise and love.  And it delights God to delight you!  Open your heart to the bounty of what He desires to give you.  Be open and receptive to receive, even when you wonder if He really hears you.

I type this prayer with deep sincerity:

MAY GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU THIS DAY. 

MAY HIS LIGHT SHINE UPON YOU. 

MAY HE GRANT YOU THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART. 

MAY YOUR BODY EXPERIENCE THE TOUCH OF HIS HEALING HAND.

MAY YOUR LIFE BE FILLED WITH JOY AND PEACE AS YOU EXPERIENCE THE BEAUTY AND GRACE OF HIS SPIRIT ABIDING IN YOU.

I AM PRAYING FOR YOU!