Coming Soon (the Hope of Spring)

For most of my adult life, I had a ready answer for, “What’s your favorite season?” Hands-down, it was Fall. Where I lived for most of my life, Fall signaled the end of a hot and humid summer and promised cool and crisp evenings to be enjoyed beside a wood-burning fireplace. I looked forward to sweaters and sweatshirts, apple pie and cinnamon baked goods, and cozy meals like chili and cheese suppers. 

The maple trees in the woods where we lived for a lot of years would turn yellow and orange and deep burgundy. My favorite flowers were autumn flowers, like mums. 

If we still lived in Missouri, Fall would still be my favorite season (it’s the season of my heart!). 

But now that we live in the Pacific Northwest, Fall signals the start of the Rainy Season, months on end of cold, dreary days and almost daily rainfall.

Here in the PNW, I have to say that my favorite season is Spring. Spring brings the promise of the end of the relentless cold and rainy days. As Spring approaches, there are some days of Sunshine (welcome euphoria), and then during Spring and Summer, the climate is like paradise, with days on end of sunshine (and almost no extreme heat or humidity!). 

 When we go for walks, we need sunscreen instead of an umbrella! 

During the Spring season, we put flowers out on our patio. We turn on the fountain that draws some little birdies for drinks and baths. Even though we say we’re not going to do it again this year, we get new bird feeders (on order as we speak) and fill them with sunflower chips. (Birds are the “wildlife” I get to see in my yard out here in the PNW, not to be confused with squirrels and deer and rabbits and groundhogs in our woods in Missouri!) 

So, yeah, come on little goldfinch and house finch and orchard orioles and chickadees…

So, yes, at this place and time in my life, Spring is my favorite season.

The calendar says it’s not Spring yet. But I know it’s coming. So the hope of Spring is already in my mind, and that helps. Being in the mindset of the promise of Spring, for my watercolor subjects, I gravitate to flowers like tulips and daffodils.

“What does the Bible say about Spring? This season is a time of warming weather and nature coming back to life. As flowers bloom and animals are born, we are reminded of the innocence and beauty that exists in this world and that there is new life all around us. As Christians, we are given new life and new mercies every morning. Spring provides a wonderful reminder to us that we should be living a full life and leaving the old dead parts of life behind. There is always hope during the coldest, darkest winters of life. Spring will come and new life will come forth!“ - from BibleStudyTools.com

Song of Solomon 2:11-12

See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. 

Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.

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