Copyright © 2004 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee

Spring is busting out all over, and nature’s exuberance this time of year is hard to resist. In late March as I write this, I’m measuring the season’s progress by how tall the trillium and hosta nubs are — a half-inch today becomes 2 inches tomorrow — or the trees’ transition from skeletal to “fuzzy” as branches come into leaf.

There’s nothing quiet about this season, either, from the constant drone of the peepers near the creek below my window to the excited cries of children at play outdoors after their release from pent-up winter restlessness.

Faded winter pastels are giving way to noisy colors too, from the green of new grass to the vibrant pink-purple of the redbud trees.

While the early days of spring can be especially hard — “spring fever” and Lenten introspection seem so at odds — I could not as fully appreciate Easter’s joy, a victory of life in all its abundance, at any other time of year.

Recent times of controversy and anxiety are not over.

But for spring, for the joy of creation in full flower, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Hallelujah!” (Ps 150:6)

— Sharon Rasmussen

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