the birds have descended. flocking to fields filled with water, and when they rise their wings sound like hundreds of blankets being aired out in the breeze.
they glint in the sun, these trumpet swans and mallards and pintail ducks and snowbirds, like guitar strings, and the sun plays them just right as they fly.
laughter on their wings, and spring brings out the best in everyone. “there’s not much new life yet,” trent says, as we bike to oma’s to float boats in the river. “winter’s just leaving and the old is melting away, but soon we’ll see it: the buds, and the green grass and the flowers…”
i blush in excitement and wonder at how i’m still sitting. at how i’m not jumping around madly for the wonder of winter finally leaving.
anne lamott’s pastor, veronica, says it’s harder to wait than it is to believe. i think waiting is believing. i can say i believe, but many times, it’s not what i say but what i do after i say it.
we’ve been waiting a long time for spring, but it doesn’t disappoint. and now that it’s here, it’s like we’ve always heard the rush of bird’s wing and felt the cold squish of mud between the holes of our crocks and seen little white patches of snow recede like they know they’re no longer wanted.
and i wonder if heaven will be this way. anticipated for thousands of years, seeming unbearably far, but once it’s here.. once the gold streets and mansions and angels descend, no doubt it will be as normal as springtime.
and at the same time, just as glorious.
A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period —
When March is scarcely here
A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.
It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you…
(Emily Dickinson)
*linking with these friends: ann, laura, michelle and jen
so grateful for:
801. a weekend alone with our boys (joey and jin spending time with auntie karen and uncle phil)
802. boat races and weiner roasts
803. aiden learning to bike
804. me being able to sleep in two days in a row, while trent rose to care for the kids
805. mad about you episodes
806. long runs in spring sunshine
807. hope brimming from every edge of the world
808. people like katie davis who are changing the way i wake up each morning
809. a God who whispers love when i most need it
810. bonding with joey and jin in a way that is almost unbearably hard, and beautiful