Spring Is Sprung

After the long, cold winter that we all just endured, I think this is the most beautiful spring I’ve ever seen. Not just because it is juxtaposed against the past several months, but because I have moved to what it truly one of the most gorgeous places I’ve ever lived. New Jersey really is the Garden State. Who knew?

I was so excited when my daughter, Grace, came home from college since she had not seen anything like this before either. “Look!” I told her as we traveled down Greenwich Church Road, “This is our yard!” The magnificent whites and pinks and magentas of all the flowering trees, the bright yellow of the forsythia, multicolored tulips and the green grass all combine to show off God’s glory in brilliant array. Every morning as I pour my coffee and look out my kitchen window, I am delighted anew by the glorious dogwood flowering in front of me. I cannot help but feel incredible joy as I look out on God’s creation.

"For the beauty of the earth," my heart sings and my nose protests. (Photo courtesy of Princeton Lawn.)

This season, I have also experienced the worst allergies I have ever known. The post-nasal drip caused a sinus infection caused a scratchy throat and vocal loss. Even after a round of antibiotics, I’m still plagued by a stuffy head and a lingering cough. I’ve tried every over the counter medication that exists and some of them work some of the time – or maybe that’s just hope on my part – but none of them work always. I’m told that this is one of the worst allergy seasons ever: a perfect storm of the coldest winter causing the blooming spring.

Yet while I am physically challenged much of the time, I am trying hard to appreciate the glorious beauty of the earth around me. I think this is actually a wonderful metaphor for life. The fact is, it’s not always all good or all bad; it’s usually both at the same time. Our lives are filled with constant joys and constant challenges. Simultaneously.

It reminds me of an old Cherokee legend in which a grandson comes to his grandfather filled with anger over an injustice done him by a friend. The grandfather tells him, “I too have struggled with feelings of anger and hatred for those who have hurt me. But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is as if there are two wolves inside me. One is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him, and does not take offense at others. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way. The other wolf is full of anger. The smallest things will set him off. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He can’t think because his anger and hate are so strong. It is helpless anger, for it changes nothing. Sometimes it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both try to dominate my spirit.”

“Which one will win, grandfather?” the boy asks.

The grandfather smiled and replies, “The one I feed.”

Paul is telling us something similar in Romans 12:14, 17, 21: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them…Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Now I’m not suggesting that allergies are evil, but rather we choose how we respond to those things that are difficult in our lives. We choose to focus on the struggle or to lift up the joys.

How can we do that? I turn again to Paul in his letter to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” May it be so.