It Is Spring!

Spiritually Speaking by Rev. JF Hudson

May (noun) 1.The fifth month of the year 2.The springtime of life; youth (from Maia, an Italic goddess known for her fertility)

This is what nature tells us. Everything lives and blooms again if only we are patient enough to allow the seasons to unfold at their own pace. Buds return to bare trees. Bulbs long dormant push up through muddy soil. Once brown and withered grass springs forth green. Birds long silent now sing out their love songs like amorous lovers. The peepers return with their nocturnal lullabies. The earth shifts on its axis and days grow long and warm. If April is the prelude to spring and about poignant longing, then May is the fullness of this symphony of life and all about us new hope is now beginning to be realized.

So here’s to May. It is spring! Let’s look for the signs of life. Let’s celebrate the fact that the Red Sox are in first place and actually beat the Yankees five out of six games in the past two weekends. Let’s open ourselves up anew to love and the possibility of having our hearts soar and swoon once again. It is spring! Open the windows! Let in the fresh air. Is there someone in your life you are angry at, who’s hurt you, who you’ve hurt? Forgive them. Forgive yourself. Let the hardness of your winter heart melt away under the warming rays of God’s gentle love and let go of all that old junk you still carry around. It is spring.

It is spring! Pack away all those bulky sweaters and cover ups. Put them up in the attic and take down your favorite summer t-shirts. Let your body out of its winter prison. Let the heat of high noon sizzle on your skin, wake up all of your senses and make your blood run warm with the energy of movement. Get on the bike. Get out and walk. Lace up your sneakers and go for a run, feel your lungs working hard and your thigh muscles burning with activity. It is spring.

It is spring! Work to make the world a better place. Drive less and walk more. Give a ten dollar bill to that homeless man you walk by everyday. Look him in the eyes and see that he is a human being too. Pray for peace. Better yet work for peace. Live in peace in your family and your workplace and your nation. Get involved. Get out of that house and out into your neighborhood. Leave work early. Play hooky. Drop the Blackberry into the bottom of your briefcase and don’t turn it on for a day, or a weekend. I dare you! Put a dust cover over the TV that lulled you into hibernation all winter and don’t turn it on again until September. It is spring.

It is spring! Open your eyes! Daffodils, pansies, tulips, hostas everywhere call out to be noticed, to be considered. Pay attention. Find a beach somewhere then kick off your shoes and roll up your pant legs and let the sand squish between your toes, and the cold water wash over the tops of your feet. Go to a little league baseball game and listen to the chatter of the kids playing a game just for fun. The crack of the bat. The snap of a flag in a brisk spring breeze. It is spring.

It is spring! Examine your life and look within. Identify old attitudes, old stereotypes, old and creaky opinions and ideas it time to just let go of, to discard and throw out in a spiritual spring cleaning. Resentful about someone or something? Give it to God to redeem and transform. It isn’t serving you anymore. Sad about an opportunity missed, a dream deferred? Try again. Then try again and then try again. Anything is possible in May. It is spring.

It is spring! Try going a whole day without complaining. You can do it! Look for the good and overlook the petty details which can so easily cause you to stumble and play victim. Love someone who needs to know another human being cares. Send an anonymous card to a neighbor in need of a pick me up. Better yet, sign it! Come home from work with flowers for your spouse. It will surprise the heck out of them! Go to church, return to synagogue, get down on your knees and thank your Creator for the simple gift of waking up this morning and taking in that first breath. It is spring.

It is spring! Have you noticed yet?

The Reverend John F. Hudson is Senior Pastor of the West Concord Union Church (westconcordunionchurch.org). If you have a word you’d like defined in a future column or have comments, please send them to revjfhudson@aol.com or in care of The Concord Journal. For more “Spiritually Speaking” visit http://revjfhudson.blogspot.com.