I learned something new this week—snowdrops have a scent. It’s not easy to notice. They hover just inches from the ground tucked under the branches of our currant bush…but a friend said they smell, so I went straightway out and selected a blossom to sample.
And what do you know?! They have the freshest, lightest scent of spring, of green things rising, of promise that winter’s spell is broken…
And so we wait….
through days of rain and some of sun…
And I find that though I thought I’d whipped winter this year—not gotten sick, not succumbed to the blues, not even paid much heed to wind or weather… that just maybe the hardest part of winter is the part just before spring truly comes. Hopes are stirred by the odd sunny day. Expectations rise. And suddenly it’s hard to wait after all and maybe I am a little glum….
That’s when every little whiff of spring helps—
“For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience…”
“May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy…” Col.1:11
And maybe this old hymn will hit the spot for you as it has for me this week:
Joyful, joyful we adore Thee,
God of glory, Lord of love,
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee,
Opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness,
Drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
Fill us with the light of day.
–Henry Van Dyke
–LS