"back in spring, rain and blossoms" by liquidskyarts on flickr

"I believe in the resurrection, in Jesus’, and in ours. The trees, so stark and gray last month, suddenly went up as if in flame, but instead in blossoms and leaves – poof! Like someone opening an umbrella. It’s often hard to find such dramatic evidence of rebirth and hope in our daily lives….I am going to try to pay attention to the spring, and look up at the hectic trees. Amid the smashing and crashing and terrible silences [in our world], the trees are in blossom, and it’s soft and warm and bright. I am going to close my eyes and listen. During the children’s sermon last Sunday, the pastor asked the kids to close their eyes for a moment – to give themselves a time-out – and then asked them what they had heard. They heard birds and radios, dogs barking, cars, and one boy said, 'I hear the water at the edge of things.' I am going to listen for the water at the edge of things today."

from "Good Friday World" by Anne Lamott, in Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith