Day 96, April 6

"Hoe while it is spring, and enjoy the best anticipation."--Charles Dudley Warner. Autumn remains my favorite season of the year, but I relish spring as well. Traditionally, spring represents renewal, reawakening, revival. For me, spring is a time to heal old wounds, to mend relationships that are strained, to try again in my personal quest to get it right. My choice of words there is deliberate: to get it right. I struggle to get it right in my writing. I struggle even more to get it right in my personal life. Sins and weaknesses, fears and frailities keep getting in my way. To my dismay, I too frequently allow them to win. How can I hope to pen words that will touch the hearts of others if my own is hard and unforgiving? The short answer is, I can't. So I continue to plead with the Lord to soften my heart, to give it the "balm of Gilead." I ask Him to take my heart and make of it what He will. My tulips are on the verge of bursting with color. I anticipate that ritual every spring. This spring, I anticipate my heart bursting with color, the colors of love, forgiveness, and healing. So, for today, I am grateful for the spring.