I woke up yesterday morning and knew that it was spring.
Yes, it’s still February, but I could feel it … something had changed overnight and now it was spring.
I’ve written before that spring in Florida comes and goes so quickly that if you aren’t paying attention, you’ll miss it. And spring anywhere, not just in Florida, is too beautiful to miss.
Spring is a season of symbolism. It is the season of new life, of awakening.
When I woke up yesterday morning, I felt like a little kid again, the little kid excited to see the snow vanish and the trees bud. I drove down the road and watched people riding their bikes and wished I had a bike. Not that I ever rode my bike when I had one, but that’s what spring does to people. It makes us want to live anew. It makes us want to breathe air that’s recycled through trees and not a building’s air handler.
I think I felt spring coming all week.
On Thursday I met with my Parish Discernment Committee for the first time. This committee is composed of church members who will sit with me weekly for the next month and a half and help me understand just what it is that God is calling me to do.
As I drove to church that night, I was nervous. I felt a little ashamed at being so nervous when God has done nothing but show me again and again that He is going to provide me with whatever I need to become the Christian He expects me to be.
Before the meeting, I sat with Pastor Debbie and Father Dave, my Commission on Ministry representative. It was my first time meeting him and my brain was racing, trying to comprehend everything that he was saying.
But then I noticed this wall hanging over Father Dave’s left shoulder.
“Be still and know that I am God,” it said. The words are from Psalm 46:10.
As soon as I read those words, I felt this calm wash over me. Suddenly the nerves were gone and as Father Dave explained the upcoming BACAM conference and how everyone is usually intimidated by it, all I felt was excitement and giddy joy.
All during the committee meeting that followed, I fought the urge to jump up and shout that joy to the heavens.
And the words that kept popping up in my head were these, “How did I get here?”
How did I get here? It wasn’t a question filled with fear, but a question of amazement and joy.
How did I get here? It’s like I woke up one morning and found myself living the dreams I had always wished for but never imagined could be real.
How could I be this blessed?
How could my life change so quickly … in the blink of an eye?
It makes virtually every day seem like spring filled with hope and the promise of something wonderful, just around the corner.
