To my mind, an essential ingredient of spring is primroses in the ditches and later on cowslips too. I love the snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils and others in the garden but wild primroses are on a different level. They are all muddled up with the remains of the die back from last summer, the still raised water level, now slightly stale, reminding me of winter rain, and sometimes snow.
One day recently I was enjoying the spring morning sunshine and rejoicing that at last walking boots can be worn in place of wellingtons without the need for gaiters, and I saw another earlier riser. Above me, a kestrel was hovering, its beady eye on something for breakfast. As far as I could tell nothing else was moving but it knew differently. The kestrel and I were looking at different things, doubtless with different thoughts in our different minds.
I am a sentient being; I respond to spring sunshine and clean air, flowers and other sights and sounds of nature. The kestrel is a sentient being too, it is differently motivated but a spring morning brought it and me to the same field boundary but did we see the same things in the ditch; if we did, then we did not view them in the same way. The primroses are not sentient and yet they too react to spring, they too come into flower and herald life, growth and regeneration.
How different are the needs of all the actors in the complex picture of living, breathing creation. One feeds from the soil, one feeds on the living things in the ditch and on the ground, while I have my porridge indoors; but I still feed on the sight of both.
However far you can venture out, look for the signs of hope and don’t just think about the darkness in the world. You will not respond to the same things I respond to but we all have the capacity to respond to something, if we can identify it.
A Prayer
Loving God, the world around us can feel dark and oppressive, especially when we hear news of dreadful things happening. We thank you for the signs of light and hope that are around us if we can see them; help each of us to awaken our positive persona and respond to whatever it is that meets our needs for positive thought. We remember that Jesus faced death and yet was positive about his mission in obedience to you and for our sake; that alone is inspiring and gives us hope. Amen.