Spring: A Time of Beauty & Renewal

Many thanks to Carol Varsalona for hosting today, and for offering the prompt of "Blossoming on the Spiritual Journey." Let's all keep Carol in our hearts as she has had a significant loss.  She shared this poignant quote: "A world of grief and pain, flowers bloom—even then." --Kobayashi Issa

Following her prompt of blossoming, here are some spring photos from New Jersey:

I posted the following poem when I first started my blog, back in 2019, and today I decided to share it again.  This is by John Neihardt, a Nebraska poet. I heard him recite this poem when he visited the college I attended way back in the day. The poem is so effusive, and when I see spring in New Jersey I see that same effusiveness in nature. It is titled "April Theology" but -- I hope you will agree that it works for May.

April Theology

O to be breathing and hearing and feeling and seeing!

O the ineffably glorious privilege of being!

All of the World’s lovely girlhood, unfleshed and made spirit,

Broods out in the sunlight this morning — I see it, I hear it!

So read me no text, O my Brothers, and preach me no creeds;

I am busy beholding the glory of God in His deeds!

See! Everywhere buds coming out, blossoms flaming, bees humming!

Glad athletic growers up-reaching, things striving, becoming!

O, I know in my heart, in the sun-quickened, blossoming soul of me.

This something called self is a part, but the world is the whole of me!

I am one with these growers, these singers, these earnest becomers —

Co-heirs of the summer to be and past aeons of summers!

I kneel not nor grovel; no prayer with my lips shall I fashion.

Close-knit in the fabric of things, fused with one common passion —

To go on and become something greater — we growers are one;

None more in the world than a bird and none less than the sun;

But all woven into the glad indivisible Scheme,

God fashioning out in the Finite a part of His dream!

Out here where the world-love is flowing, unfettered, unpriced,

I feel all the depth of the man-soul and girl-heart of Christ!

‘Mid this riot of pink and white flame in this miracle weather,

Soul to soul, merged in one, God and I dream the vast dream together.

We are one in the doing of things that are done and to be;

I am part of my God as a raindrop is part of the sea!

What!  House me my God?  Take me in where no blossoms are blowing?

Roof me in from the blue, wall me in from the green, and wonder of growing?

Parcel out what is already mine, like a vender of staples?

See! Yonder my God burns revealed in the sap-drunken maples!

- John Neihardt

Praise God for the mystery and beauty of spring, for the glorious blooms,

for the exuberance of life, and for the promise that we, too, can be renewed.

He makes everything beautiful in its time.  Ecclesiastes 3:11

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

Sending my best wishes for a beautiful month.

Renewal

 Thanks to Fran Haley for hosting this month, and for providing the theme of Renewal for our consideration.  Find her post and links to others HERE.

We had our first hard frost last night, and this morning every twig and blade of grass is dressed in diamonds. In the realm of renewal, there is a cycle. This is the time of last harvest, a time to pull out the day lilies that didn't bloom and that I never liked, dig in some good compost, and let the garden rest over the winter. A fallow time. 

I love fall: the color change, the cooler days and brisk breezes. And this week, once again, the smell of candle flame on pumpkin flesh. I do love it. But over time, seasons offer new perspectives. We change, and our expectations change with them.  I don't jump into piles of leaves anymore. I gave that up years ago. I do like raking leaves: fresh air, crisp leaves crunching underfoot and the rake scritching music in my ears. Raking, I tell myself, is good exercise. 

Still, as I raked yesterday, I began to think a new thought. Raking is beginning to hurt my arthritic hands. Do I really need to do it? Maybe I could get someone to do it for me? Maybe I could give up my quiet protest against leaf blowers? Maybe I could be less stubborn? 

Maybe I'm giving in, but I'm calling it renewal. Each day is a gift, and with it comes change and the challenge of dealing with that change. I will probably resist for another season, but sooner or later I will have to accept changes. When I do, I'll call it healthy renewal.

For me, renewal is an aspect of our beings that points to the image of God. Our bodies aren't static, instead they constantly renew themselves. We have the capacity to learn and create. The patterns of nature give us a blueprint of renewal. Each drink of water and slice of bread renews us. Songs and stories renew us. Wind in the face renews us.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made... Psalm 139:14

Mary Oliver asks us, in the last line of her wonderful poem The Summer Day:  Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

I plan to keep writing, and reading, and trying to figure out what God is telling me. I plan to keep working on renewal.