This year’s snowy Easter Sunday made me think of a quote by
Peter Gzowski: “We need Spring. We need it desperately, and, usually, we need
it before God is willing to give it to us.”
By the end of February, we are generally aching for signs of
spring, whereas the earth knows that the soil needs more time of rest and
darkness before it can support new life. Similarly, it often happens that we feel
ready to make a transition in our lives, but despite our prayers, nothing seems
to change until months or even years later. During that fallow time, in ways
indiscernible to us, God is preparing our soul for new life. Meanwhile, with an
eye on the shortness of our lifespan, we grow increasingly anxious to proceed
with our own plans. Generally, it is only in our later years that we attain the
wisdom to let God’s plans unfold as God sees fit. What should we do in the
meantime? Cultivate patience and enjoy the fruits that each day provides, trusting
that we will recognize the invitation to new life when it arrives, even if it
is not the invitation we were expecting.
Here is a poem I wrote to commemorate the typical human cycle of
complaint, frustration, and submission to God’s ways. You are welcome to pray
it on gray, chilly, or snowy spring days.
Early Spring Canticle
Enough of this sniveling snow
How long, O God, until you
return
with your thunder and lightning?
I set forth a springtime sacrifice—
daffodil bulbs
the finest compost
buttercrunch
lettuce seed
O
God, to you I cry,
to
you I make supplication
The bird feeders are filled,
the garden hose reconnected
I
know you uphold the afflicted;
O God, make haste to answer me!
In search of the light
we turn our clocks ahead
Be
exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth!
And the wise ones
keep a bag of ice melt handy
This
is the day the Lord has made;
let
us rejoice and be glad in it
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