Finding Blooms

on the backdrop of gray skies

a midday walk with my husband where we stopped to smell the lilac bushes.

I love fall because it’s such a short time and you have to savor it. There are only a few days of peak color, forcing you to stop and admire them. Fall colors don’t change on your timeline. Sometimes life is busy and you miss it. And other times, you catch them at just the right time. Some people don’t like fall because it reminds them winter is coming. But I love it.

Every year I try to catch the fall colors. I bring my camera up the north shore, make pumpkin bread, and whip out my flannels. And some years, I catch the peak oranges and reds on a bright day, glowing in the sun. Other years, I’m too early, or too late.

But it’s good once in a while to be reminded that we can’t get everything when we want when we want it. It keeps us present. In some way, I feel at peace that fall colors don’t change around my schedule. And sometimes I can’t change my schedule around the colors either. But it’s good for me. It makes it all the more special when you catch the birches in golden hour, and glimpse the bright red on the maple ridges.

But as you likely know by now, I didn’t like spring. In Minnesota, spring is chased by winter and it usually can’t outrun it until May or June rolls around. And so usually, I catch myself wanting to skip forward to summer and leave spring behind.

But this year, I heard a whispered invitation to find where it was blooming.

The first of the blooms I found. Como Park Conservatory, St. Paul, MN

And so I did. I went to the conservatory and took photos of the blooms. I walked to see the cherry blossom trees too early and when I went yesterday I was too late. I sat in my hammock and admired the apple blossoms in the backyard. I planted seeds in my windowsill and waited, finally seeing the green seedings start. I read books and watched movies while it rained, and my husband and I sat on the roof to watch lightning storms.

Sometimes I only had to walk across the street.

Rather than looking at the gray skies that took too long to find sun or the brown grass that only turned green just a few weeks ago, I found where it was blooming.

Driving down the road with my sunroof open at sunset, filled with pure joy after a Cinco de Mayo party, it hit me:

I love spring.

It’s worth chasing. It’s a season you have to catch.

It’s easy to look around and only notice the lack of sun and the overuse of winter jackets.

But as I’ve sought out the blooms, I’ve found them everywhere.

I wonder how many seasons of life I’ve missed the blooms, where all I wanted was to skip ahead because all that was obvious was gray skies and brown all around me. I wonder how many times I’ve let pain dominate the day because it’s more prominent, or the times when life was just cold enough to keep me inside, idle. But this season has shown me something:

There are blooms everywhere.

Sometimes they show up in your path and you stumble upon the joy they bring, but other times, you need to go find them.

For the One,