Spring is coming. Look for the daffodils 🌼.

The signs of spring are hard for me to ignore. I have barely been able to contain myself over the past couple weeks as spring begins it's long and slow awakening from hibernation.  As a bona fide warm weather lover, I start looking for the signs right after Christmas...longer days, brighter sunshine, temperatures above the 40s, and specks of green popping through the dirt.

Over the weekend, I noticed daffodils starting to peek through my shabby, winter-worn grass. Then I noticed the buds on my neighbor's tulip tree and the little summer girl in me rejoiced and did back flips up and down the street.  During those mild and sunny days, I rode with my windows down and turned my radio up just a little louder than usual - embracing the sunshine and fresh air.

Today, I started my morning commute with a frown - dismayed by the cloudy sky and next few days' impending forecast of cool winter temperatures and precipitation.  I know that spring is coming. It always does, doesn't it? I know it's still winter. I just don't like going through it. For a moment, I let my mood turn sour - thinking of putting my heavy coat back on tomorrow and unhappy that I can't wear my cute new pink skirt to church and brunch on Sunday.

For a moment, I let myself settle into a funk - ignoring the signs that are still there. I didn't turn on my radio and didn't sing. But then I drove by a house and noticed the yellow heads of daffodils in all their brand new glory. I passed the middle school and saw random blades of green grass sticking out from a sea of brown. If I had let that sour mood overtake me, I would have missed all the reminders. I would have been so focused on winter that I would have missed the dress rehearsal for spring's grand entrance. So I rolled the windows down and embraced the morning's 60 degree air.

See, we get so engulfed by our situations...our right now...what we feel. If we we are not careful, we allow the negative to seep into our very bones. What we think, we are. What is in us, comes out of us. We are not our situation - just merely going through it. Spring is coming, but in order to get to it we must go THROUGH winter.

Don't be fooled. Your situation, your circumstances, your winter...they are all temporary. You must go through them to get to what is next. Go through with expectation, excitement, and readiness - believing, hoping, and trusting in that which is bigger than you.  God? Fate? The Universe?   Right now, your winter coat may be heavy. You may be upset that you have no one (but you) to shovel the snow or de-ice your car. You want to feel the sun on your face and wear flip flops.    Damn it, you want to do back flips!

I know. You are tired of going through.

Today at work I sat staring out the window, watching as the sky grew darker and the wind swirled the leaves and rattled the windows.  Everyone kept talking about the weather.  I guess, for a moment, they forgot too.  Winter is funny like that.  Sometimes you think it's over and you're finally going to get a break. Then it reminds you that it's not over.  You're not done going through it.

As I was leaving work tonight, I rolled down my window to say goodnight to the guard. Warm air hit my face and I noticed it was still almost 70 degrees. I drove away with my window down and saw something that wasn't there this morning. If I had been living in my head and my thoughts, I might have missed it. Instead, I was enjoying the air, the breeze, and the last few moments of light. That's when I saw a few specks of white and yellow on the hill across from the garage...daffodils.  They weren't there last night and I'm pretty sure they weren't there earlier today. There is always hope...proof of life...spring around the corner.

Get your rain jacket ready, rake your garden, and stand in expectation.

Make no mistake about it.

Spring is coming.