Spiritual Journey First Thursday: Spirit of Spring

 Carol at Beyond Literacy Link created this lovely logo for our 

Spiritual Journey First Thursday gathering. Head over to Carol's 

blog to check out the poems she was inspired to write and

to be inspired by words from other members of our community.

My favorite season of the year is autumn, but it's followed closely by spring. In the Pacific Northwest, we enjoy an extended spring. with the daffodils often appearing in February (but not this year), followed by gorgeous blossoms on trees, and then the flowering shrubs. 

Last night as I was pondering how to approach this topic of the Spirit of Spring, I began humming a favorite hymn, "God Is Love," Click on the hymn title for a link to a performance I found on You Tube.

Mary Oliver in her book Upstream shares these words about this time of year: "Now in the spring I kneel, I put my face into the packets of violets, the dampness, the freshness, the sense of ever-ness. Something is wrong, I know it, if I don't keep my attention on eternity. May I be the tiniest nail in the house of the universe, tiny but useful. May I stay forever in the stream. May I look down upon the wildflower and the bull thistle and the coreopsis with the greatest respect."

I love to walk and as I walk . . . I look around, I look down, I look up, and . . . I snap pictures. My friends complain that my constant stopping to look and savor spring impedes our aerobic progress. Please join me on my walks of this past week as I share the spirit of spring which truly points me to our Creator. My heart sings with gratitude for the miraculous beauty of our world, for the blue sky, for every flower, blossom, and bee that remind me of His love.

The words of Robert Frost from "A Prayer in Spring" provide an appropriate benediction: 

                                     "... keep us here 

All simply in the springing of the year."