Summer may be my favorite time of year, but spring holds the dearest part of my heart. 

Just before my brother passed away, when he was still in the hospital, God gently opened my eyes to spring. Something I hadn’t experienced in 20 years living in this tropical summerland of Florida.

This is now my third spring and I am still in awe of the beauty. I keep thinking of this line-

Hope Springs Eternal

-From An Essay On Man by Alexander Pope

And I’ve pondered the order of those three words- Don’t we have this hope which springs eternal, because spring itself brings us eternal hope? Season by season, year by year we have the hope of new life.

When the world looks hopeless and dying, it isn’t.

There is new life springing up from winter’s barren ground.

And even now when the world seems uncertain of what’s to come and this week has brought its own tragedy and sadness which I still can’t quite comprehend, spring shows up with it’s eternal hope. 

This pretty little orchid, which my daughter picked out with me at a farmer’s market so long ago, began to bloom this week. This little plant, which for months only had an old dried stem, began to show signs of coming back to life. A new green stem began to grow. This little stem seemed all there was for such a long time, then buds appeared.

Now it is spring break of all things.

First one beautiful flower, then four more. We’ve watched the flowers open day by day, one by one. We’re waiting on just one more bud to bloom.

This is about the third time since having this little orchid it has gone through a season of flowering and waiting. I don’t know much about orchids and I couldn’t tell you how long that season of waiting is. It seems like such a long wait…

The flowers fall and the stem turns dry and brittle and the little plant seems like the whole thing has gone and died, but then! New Life!

I don’t remember what time of year those other three blooms appeared on this orchid, but I will always remember these delicate flowers showed up at just the right time in the spring of 2020.

Remember dear reader,

 

HOPE. It springs eternal.