Spring…I found it!

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant:
if we did not sometimes taste of adversity,
prosperity would not be so welcome.
~Anne Bradstreet 

Rarely has spring felt so welcome as after this winter. Who’s with me on this one? Well, look at that….everyone’s hand shot up! I’m not surprised. It was a long, cold, brutal winter in most of the country.

But I think it’s safe to say winter is finished and let’s all decide right now that we’re not going to dwell in the past. There are much warmer, brighter days to turn out attention towards! But…remembering the past is what makes spring sooooo welcome, isn’t it? Especially this year. If it wasn’t for the harshness of this past winter, we wouldn’t now appreciate spring nearly as much because we would have had anything to compare it to.

Adversity in our life is much like that brutal winter we all just survived. These *winter seasons* are recurring periods when trials and challenges relentlessly blow through our lives. And all we want to do is duck our heads, turn away and hide from the harsh, bone-chilling weather. We know we just need to do what it takes to survive and ride it out, knowing it will eventually pass…but it’s so hard to not get sucked into the abyss of hopelessness while going through it. And when it does pass, we enjoy life again…renewed, refreshed and more appreciative of the good things in our lives.

But if we never have adversity in our lives, how will we ever know joy feels like? How will we ever differentiate between the two? If our days are nothing but an endless stream of butterflies and rainbows, how will we ever really learn how to appreciate our good fortune?

Surviving adversity is like surviving this past winter. When it passes, we welcome the warmth of spring as it rejuvenates the earth and brings life back to the desolation left in winter’s wake. When we survive those times of adversity, we emerge more focused and thankful for the blessings and joys we realize were really there all along…we were just too defocused to remember their warmth.

Now for Five Random Friday Finds For Spring!

1. I *found* spring on a walk this past week. The above photo is of a Bradford Pear tree that decided winter is finished and is ready to announce the arrival of spring. Cue the trumpets.

2. The grass greened up and seemingly grew 3 inches overnight. Entrepreneur will actually need to mow this evening. Guess the plow blade can officially come off the John Deere riding mower. Hallelujah.

3. The Investigator gave in and bought flowers for our front entry containers. I try and resist until the first of May, but can tell you with confidence that I probably won’t last that long this year. Time is short….buy flowers!

4. We sold the pool table to make way for a playroom in our lower level for the grandbabykins. I feel a trip to Hobby Lobby in our near future.

5. The Golfer is coming home late tonight for the weekend. Twix is being baptized and the Golfer is playing the role of Godmom. If you remember, she came home for a while but moved back to Florida after Christmas when it dawned on her she couldn’t hack didn’t care for the cold winters in middle Missouri.

Hope you all have a wonderfully warm weekend.

Linking up with Random Five Friday and Friday Finds.