Sproing!

After what seems like the longest winter I've ever spent in Chicago, the weather finally changed, and the new life of Spring has come. Just a couple of warm days (and a bunch of rain) were all that was necessary for the flowers and leaves to burst out everywhere!

Spring is always my favorite time of year. I don't even care that it rains so much. Every winter, I watch the trees for signs of buds, which signal to me that the end of dreariness is here. And now with colors and warmth abounding every direction you look, it truly feels like new life is here for all of us.

It's so fitting that Easter comes in the Spring. The promise of new life is so evident in nature. Of course, because this year winter lasted so long, it made Spring that much more special.

The actual landscape changes. Here is a series of photos of my neighbor's front yard (that I lust after), that he's turned into a garden. In the first shot (taken April 14), the tulips are just coming up, and his larger plants are just skeletons. Check out how high those yellow tulips are in the second picture (taken April 28). They peaked at about two feet plus, and the flower was bigger than my fist! They're gone now for the most part - some of his smaller ones are still hanging around.

Now the third picture, taken this morning. The plants are getting so full you can hardly see the dirt underneath. His pretty tree in the foreground has lost all its blossoms and has really filled out. His hydrangeas (previously the skeletons) are totally green. His tall stately (once referred to by a friend as the Michael Jordans of flowers) now line the back, where in the previous pictures they had yet to appear.

With the flowers and new vegetation abounding, especially on a blue sky day such as we've been having, there arises in my heart such a fullness of feeling, I give thanks to God for Spring!