Spring has Sprung

It is official - spring has sprung. Flowers brighten every corner with color and the trees around town are laden with white and pink blossoms. These signs tell me spring has arrived, but for me it becomes official when the crepe myrtle in my back yard starts putting out buds. She is my late bloomer. I refer to her as the wild child because she sends up her branches tall and helter-skelter. As the other bushes and trees show signs of reawakening, she stands in the corner of the yard looking very stark. Every year as I inspect the grounds I find myself stopping by her, stroking a branch and whispering, “Are you going to come back to me this year?” She must just be waiting for her individual invitation because within a day or two she joins the rest of the garden displaying new growth.

At my daughters insistence I am posting a picture of the iris in the front yard. They are going crazy this year. Last year I got a couple shoots but this year they really decided to put on a show. Ya gotta love bulbs – just plop them in the ground and year after year they do their beautiful thing.

You will notice the military star hanging in the front window. That is for our son Blake. Yesterday he deployed to Afghanistan. I have been saying those words for some time now, ‘deploy’ and ‘Afghanistan’. They seem almost common place. Yesterday however, Stephen was doing some menial task and said to me, “I’m just doing this to keep my mind off the fact my son is going to war”. Then it hit me. My son is going to war.

It is such a paradox that in my yard everything is peaceful and putting on its natural glory and across the world my son is fighting a war. I am grateful for sustaining faith and eternal perspective to carry me.