“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.” Song of Solomon 2:11-12

It’s dark this morning, with my tea in hand and my Bible on my lap. Still cool enough for a cozy blanket and fuzzy socks. I don’t want to do school today with the kids. I don’t want to make meals or rummage up snacks, referee squabbles or character train. I just want to sit here in the quiet stillness and finish a thought, maybe even my tea. But as the clock ticks by it draws ever closer to that time when I’ll hear little feet thumping down the stairs. Someone is going to ask for food immediately. It’ll be time to leave my quiet cocoon, to pour milk in bowls for cereal or toast some bread, to rouse the sleepy teenagers towards starting their day.

And I don’t wanna.

It was much the same when I was working full time, no kids to motivate, just me. The darkness of winter mornings would settle in like a blanket, the dreariness of the cold and the tedium of routine.

No doubt about it. January and February are hard.

And then daffodils.

The whole world sleeping, snug, dark, cold. Everything brown, dead. But they push through, sticking little green noses up, up, up, in valiant defiance of the winter still clinging with frosty fingers. God’s incredible reminder that spring is coming. That no matter what today looks like from the corner of your kitchen to the larger world outside, spring is coming.

And as we emerge from the pits of January and February desperately wanting to pull the covers over our heads, to stave off the dullness of the ordinary, to shut our eyes against the drabness of stripped limbs and branches reaching toward a gray sky, the daffodil quietly appears with her song of spring. She reminds us that God isn’t through yet. That the winter isn’t forever. That sunshine and the warm breath of spring tickling upturned cheeks is coming. As Solomon says, “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.” Song of Solomon 2:11-12. So, push back against the dark with joy, with abandon, lean in and know that spring is coming!

#nationalplantaflowerday