Spring Is Here!!!

   Spring is my favorite time of the year!  I love searching for the first green blades of grass.  I never seem to catch that "first one" though.  Somehow, I just wake up one morning and everything is suddenly green, as if the miracle of it happened in the middle of the night.  I suddenly realize the buttercups are in bloom.  How could I have missed that first splash of color when I was waiting and watching for it so expectantly???   Did it all happen at once?  I love watching for the first little robin hopping around looking for worms.  The first warm breeze blowing through the trees.  The first green buds on the trees.  The smell of freshly turned earth in the fields.  The sound of tractors rumbling down the road on their way to spray a field before planting.  I love driving down the road with my windows down, and feeling the warm air blowing in my face.  I love kicking off those abominable shoes and getting my feet toughed up for another barefoot summer.  :)  Hey, I despise shoes!  Never have liked them!  I only wear them when I have too.  Another reason why I like living in the country in spring!  You don't need shoes in the country.  And it must have passed on to my son.  He hates them too.  

This is the perfect picture of Spring in the country!!!

My little farm boy.

I love the wispy hair!  :)

Helping Daddy plant blackberry bushes.

Christian loved pushing Audra.

Christian never was a climber until just recently.  He never would have tried this!!!  But Audra is a different story.  Adventure is her middle name.  She's reckless, and acts before she thinks.  And she's paid for it a time or two with some bumps and bruises before Mama could dive to catch her.  She almost made it to the top of the slide!! 

She LOVED this swing and just about fell asleep in it. 

   Spring is here!  There always seems to be a cheerful spirit in spring.  People are friendlier and more neighborly in spring.  But why is it that spring gets old as we pass into summer, and then into fall?  As the days pass, and the fresh new season progresses, we fail to notice those sweet breezes as much.  We don't "see" the robins hunting for their breakfast in the mornings.  We don't notice when the buttercups disappear, or when the breeze blows anymore.  Instead we begin to complain.  We fuss over how hot its getting.  Or how fast that grass grows and that I just mowed it two days ago!  We fuss about how hot the car is when the A/C goes out.  Why not roll those windows down and enjoy that breeze again...even when the A/C IS working?  I love the verse, "This is the day which the Lord hath made.  I will rejoice and be glad in it."  You know, it happens at the beginning of every season, actually.  We notice when the leaves begin to turn and fall.  We notice the beautiful colors of Autumn. We dig out the sweaters and turtle necks.   And we wake up in the mornings and run to the windows waiting for the first flurries of snow, the first snowball fights, the first snowmen, the first chance to bundle up in that new coat.   But then....  "OH, ITS FREEZING!  Turn up the heat!!!  We get sick of soggy mud from dirty, melted snow.  We get weary from shivering every time we step out of the house.  We get cabin fever from the long winter days and having to stay inside, trying to find some new kind of entertainment that hasn't been dreamed up yet.  We wonder if spring will EVER come again!  And the cycle starts all over again.  I was thinking about this the other day as I was sitting outside in a lawn chair enjoying those first warm breezes while the kids played in the grass.  How ungrateful we are!  How dissatisfied can we be???   I thought of the children of Israel.  Oh, they enjoyed that manna for a time, but then began to fuss about what God gave them.  So he gave them meat.  And they fussed, and fussed, and fussed til God was completely fed up with them!   You know, we do the very same thing.  Never happy with what God blesses us with.  Some places around the world have two seasons, rain and sun.  It rains for months on end, then its sunny and dry for months on end, then it rains again for months and months, then its hot and dry, and around and around it goes.  God gave us here in America four beautiful seasons to enjoy every year, and we can't even survive one without complaining about how long its taking for the next one to show up!  Oh, this kind of fussing goes on in many other areas, but right now, my mind is on spring, so that's what this post is about.  I was ashamed of myself as I thought about these things.  We fuss and fret over so many things...even the seasons and God's timetable!  We fuss over God's creation.  The very beauty that God gave us to enjoy every day!   Oh we like it for a little while, but then it becomes too hot, or too cold, or too windy, or too humid, or too wet, or too dry, or too long, or too short.  We're impossible!  Did you ever have to deal with someone who is impossible to please???  Well, look in the mirror!  That's what God must think of you and me sometimes.  I don't want to be that way.  Every day is a gift from God.  Every breath that we breathe is a gift from Heaven.  The soggy, wet, dreary days should be looked on as a blessing from God because that's what He decided to give us that day.  The beautiful "perfect" days should not be taken for granted once the "newness" wears off.  Wake up every morning, regardless of the season or the day, and thank God for it no matter how you feel about it.  I've gotten to where I love rainy days.  They are so cozy, and I always feel like baking something, or curling up on the couch in a blanket and reading a book, or playing on the floor with the kids, or coming up with something new to do with them or show them.  Lets stop complaining about what God gives us and start thanking Him and seeing His creation in a new way, not taking a single moment of life for granted!  Not a single day is identical!  They are all new and fresh, and a special gift from God.  Lets enjoy them!!!