A Prayer at Springtime

I think spring is my favorite time of year. I’m a four seasons kind of gal, but somehow spring is more special. The green of the new leaves seems so fresh. The grass is thick and lush. This year in particular, the flowering trees and shrubs seem to have outdone themselves. We have had a lot of rain this spring; perhaps that is the reason for such a tremendous display of Bradford pear, weeping cherry, redbud, and forsythia. We saw a serviceberry bush on the trail yesterday that was almost breathtaking.

Blood Root

I am particularly fond of wildflowers. Several years ago, Gene and I decided we would learn the wildflowers. We bought a wildflower book and set out to learn wildflowers. We soon limited our learning to five, or maybe seven, flowers that first year. After that, each year we added another five or seven. We are still not very knowledgeable in the realm of wildflowers, but we can each spring eventually come up with the 25 or 30 flowers we’ve learned. There are even a few that we can recognize from just the leaf without the flower. How good is that?

Cheekweed

I know spring is near when I see daffodils (I call them buttercups). They seem to always be the first thing to pop up at the end of winter. This campground has several large areas of buttercups and they have been just gorgeous. Buttercups have a special place in my heart because there were so many in my grandmother’s yard. The Easter eggs were always hidden in the buttercups. Except on rainy Easters. Then you might find them in the sewing machine drawers. Ah, such good memories.

Violet

Maybe that is the reason I like spring best—memories of special times, in special places, with special people.

Thank you, Lord, for the beauty of spring.