Spring has sprung!

Spring has always been my favourite season, here's why.

• I love the way it's starting to get lighter in the mornings, I can enjoy a sunrise in quietness before my kids get out of bed!
• The sun is so clear and warm, perfect for falling asleep under;
• I love watching all the leaves come back on the trees, roses budding, and flowers blooming;
• Its great to dig out shorts, skirts, t-shirts and sandals, to have a change from the Winter wardrobe!;
• Being able to take the cover off the sandpit and watching my kids spend hours digging in the sand;
• Getting stuck into the gardening, I don't mind weeding if it's an excuse to be outside in the sunshine;
• Just being outside with my kids watching them playing with caterpillars, worms, and butterflies, riding their bikes, scooters, running around;
• Going for walks and looking at all the gardens starting to bloom;
• Celebrating our wedding anniversary cause I always wanted to get married in Spring (the best time of year for flowers!);
• Revisiting places like the park and beach which have been a no go zone for a while during the cold and wet Winter;
• Exploring my dad's and father in law's gardens, they are some much more interesting than my young 2 and 1/2 year old garden!
• Spring cleaning and sorting!

I didn't realised how much I liked about Spring until I started writing stuff down!

I am so thankful that there are different seasons, it is so wonderful to have a change.

My husband bought two small grapevines last year and for the past 2 months we thought they were dead, I was ready to chuck them out. But the other day I saw some small green leaves start to appear.

Of course they had been dormant for the Winter, but I didn't realise how 'dead looking' they would get! But that was just for a season, now its time for growth.

I read that it's through the Winter when vines should be pruned, when they are dormant. It reminded me how sometimes in our lives when we are struggling it may appear that we are 'dead' or not going anywhere but that's probably when we are being pruned.

God is doing a deeper work within us even though on the outside it may appear that we are dormant or 'dead looking'. I shared this with a friend the other day who is struggling with their feelings about God. We may feel far away from God during this time, but He is doing a deeper work in us and its only for season that we may feel like this.

The grapevine needs to be dormant for a while so it can be pruned, so it can bear fruit in the proper season. During the Winter many of us experience times of sickness, isolation, weariness, because there is less sun, it is cold, we are more prone to illness - but God allows this season for deeper growth, to prepare us for the time when we will bear fruit.

So I am thankful for the change in seasons, and I look forward to seeing the fruit on the trees and the roses on the bushes!!

"To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1