Spring

   It's Spring!  I love this season.  Every year I look forward to the end of winter and to the start of something new.

My street in the spring

Things I love about spring:

     - hearing birds chirping in the trees, even before I get out of bed

     - more light, more warmth

     - rain that washes away the last of winter and brings growth

     - green: grass, leaves, sprouts

     - rainbows

     - blossoms on the trees

     - flowers

Harper and Me

     Spring is symbolic of beginnings and hope; an end to the cold and dark and a start of new life.  I was reminded of life again this week as I babysat my 2 month old niece, Harper.  Her life is so new and unblemished and there's so much for her to learn and experience.  

     Sometimes I feel so old and jaded and I'd like to experience newness, life and hope inside myself again.  I want to be able to believe in good things coming, just as the trees and flowers wait for the end of winter so they can bloom again.  We know that spring comes every year, that bad times don't last forever, but sometimes we still doubt.  I'm reminded of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's words a couple of weeks ago as he spoke and reminded us: "In moments of fear or doubt or troubling times, hold the ground you have already won, even if that ground is limited...When those moments come and issues surface, the resolution of which is not immediately forthcoming, hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes...The size of your faith or the degree of your knowledge is not the issue- it is the integrity you demonstrate toward the faith you do have and the truth you already know."

Mom and Annie watching conference with me

     I love the feeling of hope this conveys.  And as I try in this new season to renew my faith and recognize my conviction to make the internal changes I need, holding strong to the faith that I have, I'll need to be patient and compassionate with those around me and also with myself.  "So be kind regarding human frailty- your own as well as those who serve with you...Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with.  That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it...When you see imperfection, remember that the limitation is not in the divinity of the work...When the infinite fullness is poured forth, it is not the oil's fault if there is some loss because finite vessels can't quite contain it all.  Those finite vessels include you and me, so be patient and kind and forgiving." (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland)

     I'm excited to see what new experiences will be brought to me this season of renewal and of growing, of new chapters opening in my life as old ones end.

Life's Book

No matter what else you are doing,

From cradle days through to the end,

You are writing your life's secret story,

Each night sees another page penned.

Each month ends a thirty-page chapter;

Each year, the end of a part;

And never an act is misstated,

Nor even a wish of the heart.

Each morn when you wake, the book opens,

Revealing a page clean and white;

What thoughts and what words and what doings

Will cover its surface by night!

God leaves that to you- you the writer-

And never one words will grow dim

Until someday you write the word "finish"

And give back your life's book to Him.

Author Unknown