Winter Didn’t Win!

Winter Didn’t Win!
Spring awakens life in our gardens from what looks like death. Splashes of pink, white, and purple bud from seemingly lifeless limbs, highlighting deepening soft hues of green; forgotten fragrances waft by. Even if days are gray and showery in April, they will give way to the glories of May.
Life, not death, fills my senses. I love being able to dig in the dirt, sow seeds, water – and smell freshly mown grass.
And then I read the morning paper. Microscopic spores from Asia are eating away at tiny salamanders in Switzerland. (An Invasive Fungus Killing European Salamanders)
Just when I thought it was safe to play outside.
While Europe’s big troubles are hard to ignore, this little “problem” has scary prognostications.
Once upon a time, I heard a wise woman say,
“It’s not just the elephant in the living room that nobody mentions which can wreck a girl’s day, it’s the ants in her pantry!”
So true!

It’s ants in the pantry
As bad as the big troubles are – even ones we ignore — those little, niggling ones can march in like an army of ants helping themselves to our peace, composure, and confidence. So much that drives me to distraction isn’t the big stuff, but the little things I have ignored.
Whatever bugs us today – whatever is eating away at our hearts, making us unproductive, spring echo’s Easter’s hope: we can overcome even death.
God, I believe. Help Thou, my unbelief! (Mark 9:24)
We can get rid of those joy-robbing ants! (Luke 10:39-41) Just as we can discover an antidote to creepy fungi! (Jeremiah 33:3)
Let me add, please, even if little things derail big hopes, little things build them too. Like a grandchild at Easter dinner saying, I like you. That probably quadruples the joy I ever felt beholding the spring roses in our Texas garden! (Gardens and Grandchildren)

Spring Roses in Texas