Faith, Folklore, and Friends

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain  is  over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth;  the  time of the singing of birds is  come,  and  the voice of the turtle is heard in  our  land;   The fig tree putteth forth her  green  figs, and the vines with the tender  grape give a good smell. Arise, my  love,  my fair one, and come away. ~Song of Solomon 2:11-13

  Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June. ~Al Barnstein

My beloved spake, and said unto me,  Rise up, my love, my fair one, and  come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is  over and gone;  The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of  birds is come, and the voice of the  turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green  figs,  and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my  love, my fair one, and come away. ~Song of Solomon 2:10-13

The lilies are blooming all over North Alabama, and I love them. The ones pictured are from my back yard. I especially love close-ups, where you can see the pollen and the connections and how everything our Creator made is so right. Take some time this weekend to slow down and see the tiny, latent, and pure beauty that can be found in common lilies.

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; ~Song of Solomon 2:12

It is definitely time to celebrate; it is the first weekend of spring! The photo above was made on March 23, 2011, the year of the mild winter and record-breaking tornadoes.  These blooms are not open today, but it won't be but a few more days until they are. Why don't we take this day to go out and look for something beautiful?  There is always something to find, if we look hard enough. Who knows what we may discover if we take time to look closely?

They always come , my Daddy said, the spring rains always come. Some years, they come in roaring storms; the rain falling too fast for the cold ground to absorb. They come with hot lightning and thunder that makes our houses tremble. Some years, they come gentle, sweetly watering the pregnant ground waiting to birth a new season, a new spring. We've had rain about every day this week, and the water is standing; the saturated ground can't hold anymore.  Everywhere, trees are budding, fat, just about ready to explode into bloom.  The rain has washed off winter's dirty gray, allowing some green to peep through. The spring rains always come , my Daddy said. Winter-weary people rejoice.

Y'all know it doesn't take much to get me excited, and I was just tickled pink when I saw this. These vines are loaded with teensy weensy little orbs that will grow into plump, juicy muscadines. Last year, we spent quality time with our neighbors eating muscadines right off the vine.  Hopefully, we can do the same this year in October.  Of course, we will have to watch for little foxes and other creatures that like them as well as we do. The tomatoes are still small, but they are looking good! Hub waters them faithfully when it doesn't rain. That little squash is about an inch long, but squash grows quickly and we will be eating them in a few days.  There is about a hundred others about an inch long.  It always happens like that; there is just a few days between the time we are yearning for squash and the time we are tired of squash. I am loving this beautiful spring we have been gifted with! The world's favorite season is the spring....

My beloved spoke and said to me,      “Arise, my darling,      my beautiful one, come with me. 11  See! The winter is past;      the rains are over and gone. 12  Flowers appear on the earth;      the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves      is heard in our land. 13  The fig tree forms its early fruit;      the blossoming  vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling;      my beautiful one, come with me!" ~Song of Solomon 2:10-13

Thunderstorms passed through during the night. The news tells us of tornadoes and damage to our west, but the storms were gentle here, comforting rumbles that briefly stirred us. Here in Alabama and the rest of the South, tulips come with tornadoes. We can't spread our arms to welcome spring without embracing severe weather. The birth of the new season is anticipated, welcomed. Like all new birth, it has it's labor pains, it's struggle to be born. We can't have one without the other. The same invisible force that makes my wind chimes tinkle gently is the same entity that can splinter homes and level whole towns. The wind is powerful, uncontrollable. Is there anything else that could so fittingly serve as a symbol of the Spirit? The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the spirit. John 3:8