Springtime makes my heart the good kind of anxious.
The anticipation. Excitement. Wondering if the flowers will really bloom again this year, especially after a long, cold, snowy winter.
With the promise of another hour of daylight, I extended my ritual Sunday coffee date with Jesus. After arguing through prayers at a yoga class, I pointed the Kia north and drove to a few of my favorite beaches. Spring was imminent. Snow flurries gave way to sunshine. Wind whipped the sea into choppy whitecaps. Grebes and kingfishers searched for fish. I sat in the cold sunshine, still unconvinced that God really had bigger plans than the immediate.
Now, I know intellectually that Spring is coming. The planet is still tilted, orbiting the Sun. I know that the days will get longer, the nights will get warmer, and the flowers will eventually grow and blossom. It's harder to trust that the same rhythm is true in a larger scale for my life. That was the deeper point of the argument today, I guess.
I want life to be Spring everyday! Like the scene in Bambi, where Owl explains that the woodland animals are "twitterpated." Or in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, when the ensemble cast sings the song about Spring. I'm ready for everyone to burst into song about the pure romance of life. Is that too much to ask?
Well, at the turn-around point of my adventure, I watched the Sun dance on snowy mountaintops in front of a pasture full of migrating Trumpeter swans. The romance of life is beautiful. Still, the moment stirred something deeper in my heart. I am too easily amazed.
Later, my friend Megan clarified that I really meant I am too easily satisfied. Earth is the shadow of Heaven. Intellectually, I understand that, just like I know the tilt of the Earth causes its seasons. But my heart looks for romance in crashing waves, graceful swans, and melancholy country music. Instead, my heart was made to long for Heaven. What if the longing for Spring is merely a reflection of the deeper longing for Heaven?
Every year around this time I find peace in Chris Quialla's song Dance With Me. I know I've quoted it here before, but the lesson is just as true today. There's a lyric stolen from the Song of Songs: "See! The winter is past, the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in the land." -Song of Songs 2:11-12
Winter isn't past just yet. But Spring always comes. The rains do go away, even if we have to wait until July. The flowers appear. The singing begins. The birds often begin it.
Maybe the birds recognize the privilege of worship. Maybe they are twitterpated.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Ephesians 5
Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly loved children and live in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. But among you there must not be either sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, or greed, as these are not fitting for the saints. Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting – all of which are out of character – but rather thanksgiving. For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them, for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light – for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth – and find out what pleases the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For the things they do in secret are shameful even to mention. But all things being exposed by the light are made evident. For everything made evident is light, and for this reason it says:
“Awake, O sleeper!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you!”
Therefore be very careful how you live – not as unwise but as wise, taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil. For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord’s will is. And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church – he himself being the savior of the body. But as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, so that he may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one has ever hated his own body but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great – but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Hi Laura!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautifully written post, my dear!
I think you might pray about moving to Colorado. You'd miss the water but you are a high country girl at heart and we have little rain and a lot of sunshine. Are you certified in math or do you have minor in math? Come teach with me. Love you!