Three Reminders for Spring

Last week I got in the car and saw a thick yellow film across the windshield. I turned on the washer fluid and got the wipers going. When that layer of pollen comes to rest on everything everywhere, there’s no mistaking—spring has arrived, and with it, a special level of frantic activity. Here are three things to remember as you usher in the spring with your kids:

1. Seasons are inevitable. Spring’s blooms and summer’s green are the product of the work of wintering. While we were all shopping for Christmas, the earth was doing what it’s been created to do: break down and surrender to decay, and glean what it will from the season of quiet. With the earth, and with the psalmist, we can say to the Lord, “My times are in your hand.” (Psalm 31:15) God uses all the seasons of the year to bring himself glory, in the same way that he uses all the seasons of our lives.
2. Resurrection is written into the natural order. This is probably my favorite thing about spring: it’s never not a surprise. Daffodils come up and bloom each year, and I’m always delighted again. Does it ever get boring? I’m nearly fifty years of age, and the earth continues to hold surprises for me when I am willing to pay attention. Flower bulbs are such a foreign thing to drop in the ground in expectation: so dead-looking and ragged. And yet, they joyfully pop up—and even multiply!—in the spring. Baby bluebirds; creeping thyme; dogwoods…the earth seems to shout in springtime: “what is dead is alive again.” It is an echo of the empty tomb in the garden so many years ago. As Martin Luther said, “Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.”
3. In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. (Margaret Atwood) You might need to wait until the pollen has passed for this one, but getting outside, for the kids and for you, is the best kind of medicine for those end-of-school-year squirmies. When we were homeschooling, something I would exchange a “snow day” mentally for a “sun day”— a day when we woke up to nearly perfect weather and I declared that school was canceled for the day. The kids loved this surprise. If you don’t have this option, try to plan for a snacky dinner at a local park instead of the routine kitchen table meal. Outisde time helps us all anticipate with joy the good (and warmer) times to come.

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Kelly Keller

Kelly Keller is the managing editor of Story Warren. She has her BS in Elementary Education from Messiah University and has taught various ages, but her favorite was worldview and literature with high school students. The “gap” in her resume is actually a window of eighteen years of homeschooling, which she recommends as an effective, though demanding, way of expanding one’s home library.

When she’s not behind her laptop, Kelly enjoys live music, baseball, reading great books, and traveling with her husband, David. Kelly hails from beautiful snowy New England, but after nearly two decades in North Carolina, she feels right at home.

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