Signs of Spring

Trillium appears on the hillside behind my house.

It’s been a cold and wet winter. I walk through the garden, looking at the soggy foliage and last year’s dead leaves. It’s desolate and gray, but here and there the early daffodils are popping up and just starting to bloom. And then I get down on my knees and look around the roots of the dry stalks, and there they are. Tiny leaves of monarda, yarrow, loosestrife, and catmint. A close look at the roses and there are leaf buds everywhere. Shoots of sweet peas, nasturtiums and honeywort are growing from seeds dropped last year. And the biggest surprise of all is a trillium that unexpectedly shows up on the hillside.

Near the end of February the well-known early signs of spring are everywhere and the long winter is coming to an end. The days are longer and this morning I woke up to the song of a robin. It seems natural to think of new beginnings and words like stirring and rising. What a gift we get each year as Mother Earth reminds us of the goodness and joy that’s possible, if we only look.