There are certain signs that Spring is just around the corner:

• The calendar has turned to March.
• Baseball is back; Spring training has begun.
• Flowers are peeking through the soil.
• Any snow that falls does not stay but melts quickly away.
• The weather is becoming warmer.
• The days are getting longer.
• The clocks will be moved ahead.
• The World Fishing and Outdoor Expo is once again at Rockland Community College.
• Stores are stocking gardening and outdoor supplies.
• People are securing their summer rentals and making their vacation plans.
• Cherry blossoms are getting ready to bloom.
• Outdoor sports are resuming.
• Florida is filled with Spring breaking college students.
• Schoolyards and playgrounds are being filled up with children playing.
• People are out jogging and biking.
• I am cleaning out my tackle box and purchasing my fishing license.
• People are starting to do yard work.
• High schools are preparing for their Spring musicals.
• Nascar is back.
• March Madness basketball is on the horizon.
• The Master’s Golf tournament looms.
• Awards shows such as the Grammies and Oscars are being aired.
• Sap buckets show up in the Northern states to collect sap for maple syrup.
• Seed catalogs are being shipped.
• Brooks and rivers are stocked with trout.
• Birds are returning from their vacation in the south; Robins are chirping away.
• Bears are awaking from a winter’s sleep.
• Rain and mud are part of the landscape.

But the surest…and best…and most important sign of Spring is Easter (which of course includes Good Friday.) Easter is also known as Resurrection Sunday, the turning point in our history. The day when the world literally changed, when Jesus Christ conquered death. The Apostle Paul said that the resurrection event is the greatest day of our faith…that if if did not happen, then we are to be pitied and found to be foolish (I Corinthians 15). Without Easter all the other so called “Signs Of Spring” are hollow, unfulfilling and rather meaningless. I think that instead of Easter being a sign of Spring…that Spring is a sign of Easter. Easter is when we celebrate life, salvation, hope, joy and resurrection. Easter points to newness and rebirth, March 20th is the Spring Equinox, the official beginning of Spring. But for me, Spring has already sprung… and it points to Easter.

What do you think?

How does this make you feel?

Shalom,
Steven