Looking out my window this morning I was pleasantly surprised to see a dusting of snow on the ground. A little bonus from the winter's retreat before the warm and gentle breezes of spring appear.
I know that most people look forward to the return of warm weather and so do I. But as a long time Midwesterner I have to say that I enjoy the wilds of winter as well. "There is a Time and Season for everything" as the saying goes, and I for one enjoy them all.
When I was a young boy I remember my grandmother telling me things about the nature of Mother Nature. Things like how to tell when it going to rain, how to listen to the wind when awaiting a storm, and when to plant the seeds of spring. Grandma, being a farmer early on, had an intimate relationship with nature.
One of her favorite saying was about March - lamb or lion. As the saying goes should March enter as the lamb then beware the lion when it leaves, or if the lions enters first then the lamb will follow with an early spring.
I guess I find comfort most times in the mere fact that nature can be relied on to set our pace for the year to come. This years it seems that, for the moment at least, we are back on course and that this early paschal lamb may in fact bring us an early spring as well.
But whether lion or lamp it is nice to know that I have survived another winter. So I will take comfort in natures gift and use it to help me plant my seeds of spring renewal once again.
