Can You Feel It?

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

How many times have I sang, said or heard that and really thought about it or really meant it? Probably not that many if I’m really honest with myself. It’s like a lot of other phrases that are easy to use to the point they become rote or trite. That phrase rambled through my head at 5:45 this morning when I was walking the dog, and I realized late today that I really meant it this time.

I hate getting up at 5:30am. It’s an absurd hour for a naturally slow riser like me, but it’s the small price I pay for a wonderful job that I love and allows me to put my child through college. Every morning, I stand in the semi-darkness, yawning and waiting for the dog to choose between the light pole and the mailbox (how can it be THAT difficult), and I listen to the silence of that hour. In the winter, it’s so quiet it’s sometimes eerie. This morning though, I noticed the birds. They’re back, chirping and warbling their messages between trees. They tell me spring is on its way. I’ve missed them in recent months, but they arrived sometime in the past week, and their noises were good.

On my way to work I saw a marvelous sky, foretelling the warm weather and sunshine that lay ahead on this day. Louis Armstrong’s version of It’s a Wonderful World shuffled through my iPod and it seemed to fit the moment. It was good.

As I was running at lunch, I saw three tiny yellow blooms on a forsythia bush on one block and on another a patch of crocus in full bloom, its tiny purple blossoms washing their faces in the sunshine. And it was good.

A few minutes later, I passed the glistening steel letters on the sign in front of the Jewish temple. They seemed extra clean and shiny. That was good.

We’re having an unusually warm spell. Our high temperature was near 70 today. I ran in shorts and a t-shirt (sorry about the bright white legs, passersby), and I was hot and sweaty when I finished. Really sweaty. It made me feel very alive. Even that was good.

An unexpected bout of nausea I felt near the end of the run made me slow to a walk, but even that was good. It forced me to slow down and really notice my surroundings like the bright shoots of fresh grass popping through the ground and the elderly man gently pushing a baby in a stroller.

My work day was extremely productive. I finished some chores I really needed to get done. That was good.

Everything about this day, except for some chronic sinus issues, made me feel good. Everything around me sings of spring right now. I know we’re bound to have another cold spell soon. We always do near the end of March, but the end of winter is near. I can feel it. The signs are popping up everywhere. Even the air smells different these days.

I think God gives us spring to remind us to be hopeful. Springs teaches us that there is always another chance to wipe the slate clean and start over. That life is cyclical and eventually our troubles pass, giving way to patches of pleasantness. That good eventually follows bad. Spring is hope, and that’s why we like it. I believe each spring day is meant to be savored and appreciated for what it really is.

This is the day the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.