Spring Has... Sprung?

March 22, 2023

By Bailey Green

Midweek Musings is a weekly Covenant blog with a variety of authors and a variety of topics.

I love winter. I am one of those people who absolutely thrives in the cold. I love that it gets dark before 5:00 pm. I love the pile of fleece blankets that lives on my couch from November to April. I could sit under that pile of blankets with my cat, my stories, and an endless cup of coffee for the rest of my life, and I would be content.

I don’t know about you, but the very thought of winter ending is a total bummer for me. I often feel like an outcast when others get excited about spring being right around the corner. Losing an hour of sleep, commuting in the rain, and longer days are not my idea of a good time.

In the Bible, the season of spring is sometimes associated with a time of renewal and growth. In nature, that growth appears all around us – in the fields, on the trees, and in our gardens. It seems effortless.

In our spiritual and personal lives, growth doesn’t always come so naturally. We have to work for it.

Maybe what I really don’t like about spring is how drastically the predictability of my routine changes. As the sunshine lasts a little longer each day, my responsibilities to be social and active in my community increase. I’m expected to get outdoors, take long walks, and ride my bike with friends when all I really want to do is sit alone with my cat and my blankets.

But in that newfound time spent being social with friends, soaking in the sun and updating each other about our lives after having spent months hunkering down in the cold, I am reminded that spring is a time of renewal and growth. Not much growth can happen sitting in your apartment watching The Office for the fourteenth time, even if your cat tells you otherwise.

For us to grow, we must deliberately spend time in fellowship with each other, as well as with God in thought and prayer.

There is a season for everything. There is a time for blankets, and there is a time for biking. There is a time for solitude, and there is a time for fellowship. Spring has sprung! And like spring, we should take this time to open our hearts and minds to new opportunities for growth that surround us in our lives and our communities.

That being said, it’s okay to have a countdown to Christmas even though today is only the second day of spring. We all have things we look forward to.

For example: "In My Heart Is a Christmas Tree Farm." - Taylor Swift.