THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING

It's the First Day of Spring. To celebrate, the weather has decided to give us a hint of something good by turning the sky pale blue and bringing the sun out.

I got up early to go the weekly 6:30 am prayer meeting. I had to scrape ice off the car with my frozen fingers.

It's warmed up now though. The cherry blossom finally looks right in the sunshine.

In the spirit of thoughtful springtime consideration (and the fact that it's also World Poetry Day), I decided to look up a few proverbs about cherry blossom.

I found this by the Fourteenth Century Japanese poet, Ikkyu:

Break open
A cherry tree
And there are no flowers;
But the spring breeze
Brings forth myriad blossoms

There is something very gentle about the warmth of spring after the harshness of winter. I've started to wonder whether I'm affected by the seasons a little more than I'd like to admit.

Ikkyu gives me a little hope here that what the winter failed to do by breaking me, the spring can do very gently, by bringing out the cherry blossom in my life. It feels like the right time for that, after a winter of cracked skin and sleeplessness.

By the way, I arrived at the prayer meeting to the sound of Martin Smith (via Spotify) singing, "Even though you're gone and I'm cracked and dry..."

I had a little chuckle at the timing of that. The door closed behind me with a soft click.

"Find me in the River," Martin sang. Good advice. I reckon even the cherry tree needs a little refreshing if it's hoping to bloom.