Today is the first day of spring, so this is what I shall be writing about in today's Tuesday's Time To. It's our favourite season!
A time to plant ... now that its spring, it's such a pleasure to walk around the streets near our home, and see bulbs and flowers starting to bloom. Sweet violets, bright daffodils, delicate camelias and even daisies are blooming, and it's so refreshing to see! Buds are beginning to open on the trees now too, and it won't be long before everywhere is fresh with the green of new leaves.
A time to heal ... being outside is so good for you. Did you know that sunshine is one of the best natural sources of Vitamin D that you can get? Vitamin D has many functions but one of the most important is that it helps to keep our bones healthy. It is also beneficial to the immune system, so it's great for all of us to be outside as much as we can in the nice weather.
A time to laugh ... sushine makes everyone smile! It's so good not to have to wrap up with coats, scarves, gloves and hats, every time we go outside! Somehow there's a wonderful sense of freedom, in being able to step out with only a cardigan or light jacket on instead. That makes me smile!
A time to embrace ... you don't need a garden to reach out and embrace the world outside. A windowsill or balcony can still give you an opportunity to grow things. We're growing herbs on our kitchen windowsill, and will move them outside in the hotter weather if they do well enough, where they'll get plenty of sunshine and fresh air on our balcony. I'll agree it's not so easy to sit outside if you don't have a garden, but despite this, we use every opportunity to embrace the fresh air by going for walks around the area where we live. We have both a beautiful natural park and a lake near our home, and we thank God every day that we have such a beautiful environment so close to our front door for us to enjoy. Who needs a garden when you have so much more to explore, just a few steps away outside?
A time to keep ... in England, the weather is never very predictable! So while we're enjoying the warmer sunny weather now, we haven't put our winter coats away just yet! We've kept them close to hand, knowing that there's bound to be a few more chilly days before the spring is really here to stay.
A time to sew ... it's now that I'll go through all the winter woollies, hats and gloves and overcoats, to see what mending needs to be done before our thicker clothes really can get put away for the warmer months. I've found it is much easier to do this now, than to put them away without checking them over, only to find that when I get them out of the drawers and cupboards in September or October and the weather starts to get cooler again, that there are several garments that need attention to make them ready to wear again.
A time to speak ... there's nothing more beautiful than the voices of the many different birds outside at this time of year. It really seems to symbolise for us, the coming alive and awakening of the world after its long winter sleep. It's so good to hear them calling to each other early in the morning, just as we too are waking up and greeting each other in our wee bedroom. It's a very precious sound, and a very primitive one too - imagine, when God first created the world, these exact same bird songs were heard, by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden! What a beautiful thought.
A time to love ... Papa Bear and I especially like spring because it's the season when we first fell in love - and the season when we married, too. Not only that, but it's also the season when our first baby was born - Little Bear! For us, spring is all about joy and hope and new beginnings - so much to celebrate!
A time of peace ... first thing in the morning after we've said our prayers, Papa Bear and I pull back the curtains and sit in our bed together and watch the sun rise over the roof tops opposite our apartment block. Now that it is lighter in the mornings, it is so incredibly lovely to see - the colours are amazing, luminescent gold and pink and mauve and silver. In the evening, we get to enjoy the same splendour of God's creation from our living room window, where we can see the sun setting. It makes me realise just how blessed we are, to be living here in our high-rise apartment. We may not have a garden, but we have so much to be grateful for, and so much to praise our Father God for. It gives us a deep sense of peace and trust in our Lord, to know how good He has been to us, and just how bountiful our blessings are.
