New Life - Waiting for Renewal

I shared my own resurrection story on my blog some time ago. In reflecting on that time during this waiting, this three days of waiting for Jesus to rise from the tomb, I think I would like to add some thoughts to my story, a few years later.

I have known many friends, sadly, who have lost someone very close to them; a spouse, a child, a brother. For them there is no resurrection here on earth, and we are left with a sense of loss. In my belief, they are truly in a better place, if better means no suffering and no pain.

But there is such beauty to behold on this earth that I don’t want to leave yet! Sometimes it may seem as though you really have to search for it, but you will always find beauty if you look around you.

As warmth very slowly returns to the earth here in the upper Midwest, new life begins to emerge. We are rewarded for those late Autumn bulb plantings with a bright show of color amongst newly sprouted foliage.

I step outside barefoot, far before many people probably would, to begin to feel the earth’s energy through the souls of my feet as the ice melts away and the ground begins to soften. I close my eyes to the warmth of the sun on my face, and hear the birds singing their Springtime songs, after too many months of silence.

We had one day with 70˚ temps, and that was enough for my lilac bush to begin to break open its buds and for my magnolia flowers to begin to burst forth from their fuzzy wintering cover. I love to let the petals touch my face, feeling their smoothness. Soon they will unfurl into surprisingly durable multi-petaled flowers that somehow endure surprisingly strong Spring storms. 

About the same time, the Red Maple begins to put on its own show. I never quite realized the patriotic theme of it, but we do have red, white and blue, with this bright, blue sky overhead.

We wait for the renewal. We know life will return. 

And with the same certainly I know we will return to some place that is very different from the beauty of this earth. Surely there is beauty beyond compare in Heaven, or whatever is your belief after we pass from this earth. There is such complexity to our spiritual being; it would be hard to imagine that this earthly existence is all there is. I do believe our spirit continues. Into what realm, I do not know for certain. For now, all we have is our time here on the earth. We need to spend it for all it's worth. 

So live. Learn. Grow. Breathe in the air. Celebrate this one life that we have. Celebrate the life well lived. Know that from wherever our loved ones are, somehow we are still connected. Just as we are all connected on this earth, in ways we don’t even understand. But we know this to be true. In these times, no one can deny that.

Blessed Easter Day to all who celebrate the birth of our Risen Christ. Pray for peace and for new life to come to us all once we break through this wall of oppression and into a new world, where awareness replaces fear, and being conscientious and mindful sets a standard for social interaction.

Be well, my friends. Take care and God Bless.

Morning at the Marsh

I can finally feel it.

 
Life, returning to the earth. The bitterest of winters has finally retreated, and spring is ushering in new life where there was nothing but a frozen world.





Plants, for many months dormant under the frozen ground, eagerly push up through the softening earth. We rejoice at the sight of anything green after months of nothing but white.

I honestly thought it might not happen. There was a time, several weeks ago and more than five months into the worst winter in thirty years, that part of me felt I would never see green again.

I want to capture the morning sounds of the marsh as I sit with my window open and write. My vista is the scenic overlook of the Vernon Marsh at the end of Frog Alley Road in Mukwonago. My home is somewhere across this wide expanse of nature-in-the-wild.

I come here, where the morning sun warms my face, and listen for the sounds of life returning to this place. It has been a frozen world for so long. It makes me feel peaceful to hear life returning to this place.

Now I can hear the songs of many songbirds that have returned, including the red-winged blackbirds calling to each other. If I close my eyes, I can imagine steamy, hot summer afternoons in the marsh, with tall cattails towering over me, and turtles hiding in the cool water or resting on a log warming themselves.

As I sit here with my coffee, I can hear the sand hill cranes call out sleepily from some hidden place below me in the marsh.

I hear the robins, who have begun their earnest song: 

"It's Spring! 

It's Spring!

It's Spring!"

 

 
After a difficult day recently, I came here early to spend time with God. I wanted to spend time in prayerful thankfulness for His constant presence through the trials of the previous day.

I found such healing beauty here in the morning songs of the birds, the caress of the sun, and the soft vistas of morning light, that I vowed to come back here frequently to start my day.

I've always felt closest to God through nature. And though I've never felt far from God through this seemingly endless winter, my heart has longed to feel life and hope through my connection to the living, natural world.

I always do my happy dance, at least in my heart, when I can finally feel the earth's life energy return; when I can feel the earth coming back to life as I walk through my back yard with bare feet in the cool grass.

Winter in the woods at Retzer Nature Center

Though life is present in winter, I liken it to molecules frozen in ice -- they move so slowly as to seem non-existent. This is how most of the natural world feels when we are in the deep freeze of a long Wisconsin winter. 


But now I can feel that the earth, at least here is our part of Wisconsin, is once again a living, breathing entity, full of life, offering the promise of the next two seasons of great beauty in the flowering and green plants that thrive in our seasonal warmth.

We all feel it. Everyone seems to have more energy, and people smile more readily. Perhaps this is a partial explanation as to why we live here, and why we endure the long months of bitter cold and snow.

Perhaps we wait for the reward of new life; that feeling of renewal, that grabs us and turns us to face the sun and its warmth. To know the inexplicable joy that finding that first blooming crocus brings, and to see the tulip leaves pushing up through the earth with their promise of springtime beauty.

Now I'm not saying that I wouldn't like to try living on Maui, where flowers and natural beauty bloom year-round. I'm certainly not saying that at all!


But our reward for enduring months of cold, bitter winds, is the promise and hope of new life that springtime brings. We feel this deep in our being, and wait with hope for the change in the seasons that will bring life back into our natural world. 

Truly, this renewal feeds me to the core of who I am. My creativity is flowing again, right along with the sap in the maple trees. It won't be long until summer is in full bloom. But for now, let us cherish the simple joys of springtime. And offer thanks for the many little surprises of new life that blossom around and within us. 



Here are the early morning sounds of the marsh I captured on video to share with you. Enjoy!

The Glories of Springtime

I pause from my work digging in the soft earth, and lay back under my maple tree. Its tiny leaves unfurled only days before have grown large enough to cast a fairly deep shade. 

Their growing size belies their newness. Each leaf is still supple and displays the vivid green of new spring. 


The young leaves dance on the gentle breeze against a bright blue sky, and I am transfixed. I feel I could lay here all day long.  

It seems I have never appreciated a springtime as much as I have this year. I have waited so long to feel and breathe in the newness of life all around me. The tulips are still dancing in their springtime best, opening fully under the mid-day sun and closing back up at night. 

And the lilacs are blooming. THE LILACS ARE BLOOMING! Springtime has surely arrived when the rows of lilacs everywhere show their glorious lavender and purple hues and share their heavenly fragrances. It a bountiful year for these floriferous shrubs, and I will cherish every nose-full of their heavenly scents. 

To say our springtime was wet would be quite an understatement. But look at the bounty! Though Spring was late to arrive, it is hurrying to catch up with itself, sporting new growth all around us. The soft grass feels wonderful under my bare feet, and oh! how I love the fuzzy, soft green the mosses under my feet.

I will soon be planting flowers and vegetables in earnest. With good care, watering and fertilizing, and plenty of sunshine lovin' on my plants, I will reap a bounty of goodness and beauty for my efforts.

And so it is with my spiritual life. If I tend to the needs of my spirit, and sometimes hush the busyness of everyday life long enough to delight in the beauty of the natural world, I find I am blessed with serenity, and peace. 

If I quiet my mind and back off of my to-do list, and pause, and pray, I keep my focus on what is really important: my relationship with God. 

In any season, I want the fruits of my labor to be pleasing to Him. I want my purpose in life to be that which He intends for me. And I can only know when I am on the right path if I stay in tune with His Spirit's leading. 

I will leave you with these meaningful words from Psalm 65, verses 9 through 13 in the NLT:

"You take care of the earth

Making it rich and fertile.

The river of God has plenty of water;

it provides a bountiful harvest of grain, 

for you have ordered it so.

You drench the plowed ground with rain, 

melting the clods and leveling the ridges.

You soften the earth with showers

and bless its abundant crops.

You crown the year with a bountiful harvest;

even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.

The grasslands and the wilderness become a lush pasture,

and the hillsides blossom with joy.

The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep,

and the valleys are carpeted with grain.

They all shout and sing for joy!"

I love how this passage matches how joyously I feel in celebrating this springtime. And not only springtime, but the promise of the harvest. God brings new life into our hearts, and through His work in us, we produce the harvest we bring in our lives. 

Enjoy the blessings of new life and renewal, in the earth and in yourselves. Happy Spring!

The Winter of Our Discontent

Shakespeare! Again! This quote came to me while I pondered life and love as I drove through the rising dawn and viewed our endless winter. Snow is falling again, and though I still see beauty and feel some excitement as the white flakes fall, our Midwestern winter seems to drag on and on. As winter’s cold and gloomy days stretch on, it’s hard not to feel heavy laden, and to feel the darkness begin to seep into our spirits.

And yet, there is beauty to be found. The canvas of white outside my window is etched with the angular shapes of bare tree branches, which catch and hold the snow like frosting on their limbs.

I love to follow animal tracks in the fresh snow, and try to determine who the critter was and when they passed through.

Oh, and when the sun comes out! When the sun comes out! Especially after a crystal snowfall, when millions of diamonds sparkle at my feet, I am filled with wonder and awe.

Truly winter has its beauty. It just sticks around too darn long.

Likewise, when we are living through a winter of our spirit , we may feel that the heaviness seems to last forever. We are weighed down by our burdens, and instead of singing, we turn inward and want to crawl back under the covers.

But every cycle of life is always changing. Deep under the drifts of snow, down in the frozen earth, I imagine my tulip bulbs beginning to awaken. Soon, the days will warm and hope will renew as life returns to the natural world around us. What joy we will feel in the delight of the first blossoms, and that incredibly bright shade of new spring green that the trees and shrubs will wear. It will happen. It will come, as surely as the sun rises each day.

And thus, so shall the darkness of our spirit come to a time of lightening. We will begin to feel our burdens diminish, and in time, hope will dispel our sadness. Though sadness may pervade our thoughts, and languish in our hearts, joy will one day find its way into the dark places and the light will come again.

Like the sun warms and nurtures the earth, we need to nurture our spirit with all that is good. Be kind to yourself. Take the time to treat yourself to whatever it is that makes you feel happy. Honor your sadness, but don’t let it linger too long. The spirit longs for peace, and though our discontent may last for a season, even seemingly endless winters will end.

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.”

Psalm 42:5-6 & 11