Look what happened—spring snuck up on us!

April is bursting out all over my backyard with dazzling colors and shapes and aromas.

Look at this pink!

Look at that green! (don’t asparagus ferns remind you of dreadlocks?)

See the bending birch trees below? They’re just saplings, and the one on the right almost didn’t make it through the windy, stormy months. But he’s been hangin’ in there, even after one of his thick trunks splintered one blustery day this past February.

Just a few weeks ago all of this looked like a brownish wasteland of tangled dead weeds. I haven’t done one bit of gardening; the water’s been off all winter. The rain and sun and earth did this all on their own.

I’m inspired by this cycle of life, death and rebirth. It gives me hope. Makes me think I don’t need to fret and strive so much; that maybe beneath the surface this season is doing its work in me like it’s done in my backyard, and that new joy, new patience and new peace are growing and will emerge in me in due time.