Winter Reflection and Thoughts

I hear people talking about Spring, and I am like, please stop.

If you live in West Michigan like me, you know we are not even close to spring here. It’s the beginning of March, and we have weeks of cold and wet weather ahead.

Although, some days, it feels like Spring. There is a long-standing joke in Michigan. It goes something like this. I hope Spring comes on the weekend this year. We usually get a very, very short period of spring weather. It often goes from cold, wet, snowy, and icky to HOT!! It’s not out of the possibility that we go from a low of 26 to a high of 85 in 2 days, from the heat running to the AC in one day.

This time of the year is the most challenging for me. March and April. I am a Colorado Native, so I’m unsure if that’s the problem or if its something else. In Colorado, the sun shines almost every day. In West Michigan, um…. not so much. Not even close, actually.

I am very, very thankful for the stint of sunshine we had in February. IT did feel like spring, although it was just a tease.

So, instead, I have decided to bring spring to me. It might be cold and miserable outside, but I can have spring inside. Creating indoor spring garden baskets is one of my favorite ways to brighten up the inside of my house. Hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, and snowdrops start to show their pretty little faces. Oh, they are such happy flowers!

I start moving away from the white flowers of winter and gravitate towards the soft spring colors of pinks and yellows. Isn’t it amazing that God has a color palette for each season?

It’s time to think about forcing flowering branches and what we will grow in our gardens. Walking outside every day, you can observe the change in the trees. Our animals start to shed their winter coats. The geese have returned to the pond, and I hear some birds singing again.

It’s time to take down my winter wreath, remove the greens from my flower pots and start putting together ideas for spring pots and a spring wreath. As we move through March, we start thinking about Easter. But this reflection is supposed to be about winter, so we won’t go there yet.

By the end of March, I will prepare my flower beds for the season's first plants to go into the ground. It’s hard to believe it. I usually start to get really antsy and get really sick of being forced to stay inside.

But my biggest reflection is how faithful God has been again through another winter. He tells us the seasons will change, and they always do. Yet, he continues to care for us and his creation. So, I am reminded to be thankful for the winter. It’s a time to rest and reset—to cuddle inside and go to bed ridiculously early.

But I am looking forward to spring and cannot wait to get my hands back into the dirt again and spend time in the garden.