It’s Spring Break. Before my daughter entered school, it was just another week in March. Now it’s so much more. Extra time together as a family. Mornings to sleep in. The marker of one more quarter remaining in the school year. By the sheer nature of the title, it’s a taste of winter vanishing and the new season beginning.
Lifeless barren twigs resting all winter, show signs of new growth. The brown remnants of last year’s perennials melt into the dirt, but below new life pushes through. A pruned rose bush resembling lanky toothpicks plunged into the ground is decorated with buds waiting for their moment to say hello.
Springtime: it’s a promise of renewal.
For me, spring is energizing. Life is full of excitement, challenges, and opportunities for growth. But winter has a tendency to overstay its welcome. Ever felt like that? Prolonged difficulty. Unknown direction. Unanswered prayers. Overwhelming circumstances. Never-ending schedules.
I’m one who likes to check off items on my To-Do list and bask in my sense of accomplishment. Unfortunately, life doesn’t always afford that luxury and parenting isn’t so neat and tidy either. Parenting is the greatest challenge and most fulfilling position I could ever imagine. But often our instructions feel like the uninvited guest who lingers when our repetitions playback like a recording.
Listen!
I didn’t hear, “excuse me.”
No, you cannot wear sandals in the winter … it’s freezing cold.
Don’t be surprised and complain over doing chores … you know it’s a weekly event.
I asked you to go clean your room, not go play.
Play nicely with others.
Don’t interrupt me when I am on the phone.
Yes, parenting can feel like a long winter at times. But there is hope!! Spring is coming. Underneath all the struggle, the god-given beauty is germinating its new growth. It just hasn’t come out yet to greet us, but it’s in there …
Think about it–did we learn the first time around? I know I didn’t. My mother’s continual reference to my bedroom floor’s carpet being multi-colored from all the clothes was a drab winter for her I’m sure. But somewhere along the way, spring showed up. Today, our bedroom carpet is only one color.
Throw out the To-Do list. Just take each day as it comes. Spring will come.
Andra M.
I’m learning to live one day at a time, sometimes one minute at a time.
I would go insane if I didn’t, especially during those times when my little one is inconsolable, and I can’t figure for the life of me what’s wrong.
His crying ends eventually, and he gives me a moment of spring with his smile.