Spring has Sprung

I love the first day of Spring. Mostly because FREE RITA'S of course, but I also love the anticipation of watching new life spring up all around. The beauty of the sunshine, budding trees, and blooming flowers makes me happy in a certain unique way. New life is beautiful, hopeful, and here.

My husband told me last night, "I can't wait to get out this weekend with the sprayer and finally get rid of all those weeds around the house. Anything green is getting sprayed!" "No!" I yelled back in an unnecessarily dramatic way. "Didn't you see all the daffodil plants coming up through the weeds?"

We moved to this place last June and missed most of the Spring blooms. By the time we settled down, the house just looked covered in an overwhelming amount of weeds. My husband has literally been talking about taking on these weeds for almost a year and is more than ready. But these unexpected daffodils, hyacinths and crocuses are coming up all through the junk. With each colorful bloom I get ridiculously excited. Flowers give me much joy, but even more comes from the reminder of new life!



Throughout the season we're surrounded with bunnies, blossoms, eggs, and chicks, and while they may have become a bit commercialized, each one of them reminds us of life - thriving, beautiful, new life.

The Bible says that everyone who belongs to Christ is a new creation - the old has gone and the new life has begun (2 Corinithians 5:17).  Only through Christ can beauty spring out of pile of junk, a beautiful flower blooming out of the weeds. God has the ability to make all things, in every season, NEW. 1 Peter 1: 23 says that because of Jesus "you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God."


This resilient daffodil is a beautiful visual of the new life we have in Christ. Not just in the Spring, but everyday, no matter what comes our way, we can stand imperishable through the living word of God.

"You turn winter into spring 

You take every living thing 

And You breathe Your breath of life into it over and over again 

You made the sunrise, day after day after day 

But there's a morning coming, when old things will all pass away 

And everyone will see 

You make all things new 

Come redeem and come transform 

Come renew and come restore "

-Steven Curtis Chapman, "You Make All Things New"  

Running with the Rugrats

Today I woke up to see sun peaking through the clouds and hear robins chirping out back and I actually had a desire to go for a run. Now while I might enjoy exercising and teaching classes, I would never ever dare call myself a "runner". But with the gym not an option because of spring break (yes, our whole town likes to shut down when Penn State does) and my husband out of the house before 7 a.m. today, I knew I had to tow two kids along if I was going to make this happen. And miraculously enough, I learned exercising with two is possible, perhaps not ideal, but somewhat feasible. I strapped my 6-month old in the jogging stroller, threw sneakers on my 3-year-old and said, "Let's go!"

In Walmart, Baileigh seems to have no problem sprinting 30 yards ahead of me the whole time, yet when I ask her to run in front of me, her legs only seem to work in short bursts followed by cries for mercy (and water) LOL. But then I grabbed her arm with one hand and pushed the stroller with the other and we laughed and jogged along for almost a mile. On the way back we stopped at a small park and she climbed the rock wall while I did walking lunges around her and used the park bench for push-ups and tricep dips. I probably looked ridiculous, but I managed to get a little sweat goin. Baileigh made it up to the top of the rock wall and I asked what she could see up there, expecting an answer like "some mountains" or "lots of cars". But she yelled with excitement "I see some mulch!!" Haha.

The three of us made it back home with just a few tears over a scraped knee, but no serious meltdowns, no screaming fits, no blown-out diapers. Just lots of giggles and a decent workout. I don't know if this means that this could become a regular part of our routine or if it means I should just hold on to this lovely memory and not push my luck ever again. But I do know my excuse of not being able to workout without a gym or a babysitter has been proven wrong to me today.
Crap   :)