I looked out the window and what did I see

I WOKE UP THIS MORNING to a cacophony of birds. They were chattering away-encouraging from my slumber so I could experience the miracle of spring in Nebraska.

In past years I have lamented that I was too busy to notice the coming of Spring. My head was stuck in books, and tests, and the little mundane things of life. For years on end, I missed the unfurling of little leaves or the flowers waking each morning. My only indication that spring had arrived was the annual ritual of stuffiness and subsequent antihistamine administration. I never noticed the earth growing again until the doldrums of summer when it was starting to wither under the harsh Utah sun.

Since graduating, I have made a concentrated effort to notice and enjoy springtime. There is so much to enjoy about it from the warming days to the cool crisp nights. It is a time to wake up and enjoy a life in the outdoors. To smell the new earth and the growing grass. To feel the sunlight on your back. And to simply smile at the gifts our Heavenly Father has given us, for in the springtime, they are plentiful and very easy to spot, if we just look.

One of the things I love about living in Nebraska is that it goes from winter brown to green overnight. Here mother nature does not slowly wake from her winter slumber, stretching her green thumb lazily as she yawns into spring. Rather between sundown and sunrise, she races about the state shaking awake all the flora into a vibrant spring.

James and I went to bed with a bare and lifeless tree outside out window, only to wake to white blossoms open in their full glory. The grass was green and even the neighbors daffodils had sprung to life. In the snap of a finger, the earth is alive again. The miracle of spring has happened again.