Spring

Taken April 9 in Ashland, Oregon.  Copyright 2013, Constance Schroeder

It is a sad day...multiple bombings at the Boston Marathon, three people dead and many injured.  What is the reason for the violence?  What illness takes hold within a human mind that desires to hurt and to harm and to kill?   What deep pain turns into a bitterness capable of such rage and harm?  What a terrible waste of life and potential and possibility it is when someone allows their pain to poison and destroy. 

In the book of Hebrews in the New Testament, there is a verse which says: "Let no root of bitterness spring up, and by it many be defiled."  I think this is the very thing that verse is speaking about.  When we allow old injuries to take root, when we refuse to work hard on issues of forgiveness, our bitterness and anger begins to effect how we see things.  And our anger comes out in ways which are destructive...like today's marathon.  We think of ourselves:  "I would never do such a thing."  And yet, our bitterness Xes people out, pushing them away from us, and creating more pain and anger beneath the surface.  Unkindness, gossip, labels, excluding others can be the beginning of deeper violence. 

Someone said that one comes to appreciate spring more as one ages.  I think it must be true.  Autumn used to be my favorite season.  But now, each spring, watching for new life in its many forms, begin to peek out, spring up, blossom, bloom and dazzle us mortals is a great sport!  The past few days I've been noticing that the lilacs are budding, and today, I noticed some blossoms, and that intoxicating perfume, which is one of my favorites of the season.

This tree is part of an orchard.  It is obviously an older tree.  The age of it is showing.  And still it is full of blossoms that promise a wonderful harvest in the fall. 

May the things which take root in our lives, be filled with possibility and beauty, with goodness and the promise of a rich harvest.  Let's weed out the bitterness.  Let's keep our lives free from insidious, and fill it with goodness.