Spring has never been so appreciated.
This year we longed for Spring the same as we always do after winter begins to ease its frigid grip. But it seems to have unfolded its beauty more vividly than ever.
Or maybe we’re just noticing that beauty more and feel more grateful for it.
The tulip has always been my favorite flower. You can find at least one or two in almost every yard and garden in the Southeast United States each Spring. But from the perspective of this Spring, it seems I’ve not seen any tulips in the past few years.
Last year it did snow and freeze the tulips in my neighborhood just as they were sprouting. Didn’t that happen the year before that? And the year before that? I can’t remember.
But this year I found tulips everywhere. And I brought them in the house. I picked them one or two at at time in order to ration them like I’m learning to do with food and paper products. This practice led me to realize the benefits of the practice of gratitude for enough, and the joy of appreciation for abundance.
This is my second Spring in the house where I live so moving around a lot makes it hard to notice the long term annual production of garden flowers. But my mother’s garden looks better this year too.
Or at least it seems that way. Maybe I just didn’t notice last year. And the year before that.
This might be because we notice beauty more when we are in the midst of crisis. Or maybe when we long for beauty more when we are afraid. Or maybe we are more grateful for beauty when we are grieving.
All of the above.
But I wonder if this wasn’t some sort of gift like the Holy Spirit called FTD because we were in the hospital(s). Clearly all of us who care are at least spiritually in the hospital, praying for the sick and the caregivers alike. Empathizing with those who die alone and their families, alike.
So, as the last of my tulips begin to fade in the last light of these Spring mornings, I turn more to hope than lament. Because seeing the beauty around me caused my heart to open to the shared hope of the world - even in the face of global pain.
Wonder what will fill my vase next? Perhaps some azaleas, or zinnias, or sunflowers. For the beauty of life goes on. The beauty of life sustains us.
