Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.

–Doug Larson

This is always the most challenging time of year for me. I miss being outside. But as the days begin to lengthen and there are short breaks in the wind and rain, let’s head outside. Want to join me? Grab some waterproof shoes and a hooded jacket, just in case. I’m certain we will not be disappointed! Underneath a blanket of needles and leaves we’re sure to find tender young shoots from bulbs that will introduce vivid color into our lives in a few short weeks.

Now let’s venture beyond the flower beds and check out a nearby grove of trees, the kind that bathe our Pacific Northwest home in grandeur. Take in the damp air, smelling faintly of evergreen. Feast your eyes on the trees. Look around and rejoice! When your heart fills with gratitude and joy falls from your lips, you bring love into the world.

This is one of the ways I know God is with us. He brings change to our natural world and tucks gentle messages inside those changes. We must step away from our busyness and take a moment to be quiet and look. We must attune our hearts to those potential messages, those great life lessons, and apply them once we return from our momentary excursions.

I know that God can speak with a roar. Just turn to the Old Testament section of your Bible and read about the plagues God forced upon the Egyptians when they enslaved the Jews. The brutal immensity of His message leaves no doubt He was intervening in the lives of man.

But we also learn from the Bible that God is gentle. His personal message to us this week can be seen, in all places, in the awakening bulbs and the trees. He produces growth in both the oldest and youngest of trees, as well as in us.

His message brings great relief to most of us who fear we are too insignificant to demand His notice. It also comes to those of us who wonder if He is finished with us, out of frustration with our fears and our laziness.

Take special notice of those trees that are scarred and bent. Some have had their tops knocked out by wind and snow. Some have even been pushed over at some point and not only grow along the ground but seem to have gained the strength to reach upward once again toward the sky.

Still other trees have yet to show evidence of significant growth. For today we can only imagine the potential. But you can trust that during spring growth will burst forth – if you take the time to look.

It is all about timing, known only to God and produced by God Himself. So let’s end our jaunt to the forest’s edge, and to the edge of greater understanding, by whistling and anticipating, imagining and praying about all that is to come.