What a winter! I have forgotten how often in the past few months I muttered the line from Shakespeare’s Richard III: “Now is the winter of our discontent.” I have enough self-knowledge to realize that my discontent would have lessened if I just stopped complaining and learned to appreciate the unique beauty of winter. But no! The path from self-knowledge to action is lengthy.
It’s not unlike that lengthy wintry journey that T.S. Eliot refers to in The Journey of the Magi. “A cold journey we had of it, just the worst time of the year for a journey, and such a long journey: The way deep and the weather sharp, the very dead of winter.” My discontent shifted to envy when I saw Facebook photos of blossoms from friends on Vancouver Island. My eyes kept going back to an airline ad for a sale to a place that was warm and dry.
I’m no longer envious. That lengthy journey has ended. At least I hope it has! Our spring in Southern Ontario is taking its time emerging. There may be a gift in that. The gradual development of this season of new life will give us 
time to watch life emerge slowly. It’s always good to have a spring which stretches out and lingers. Perhaps the blossoms will last longer. Perhaps the cooler evenings will help those who collect sap for maple syrup.
I enjoy running, but I find it challenging to run in ice and snow. It feels so freeing to once again wear just a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and head outdoors for a long run. There’s enough of a chill in the air to add a slight challenge. But it is a welcome challenge after a long winter snuggled up in bulky clothing. Imagine the freedom of letting the breeze blow through your hair. While running outside I can enjoy the greening of the grass, the developing buds on trees, the playing children, the sports teams practicing, and pets who are happy to have new scents to check out. Since so many other runners have pale legs, I’m not embarrassed to show off my pale white legs.
Spring coincides with the Easter season. Both the liturgical season and the season of the earth are filled with hope. With the end of winter, we can leave behind our winter hibernation and wake up to new sights and smells. We know that the seed in the ground is starting to come alive. That seed of hope inside us is coming alive as well. What do we hope for this spring? It could be the hope of those pale legs getting a healthy-looking colour. Or, maybe it’s the hope of shedding that extra weight added in the winter.
Spring is the season of plans and projects. It’s God’s way of reminding us of what can be done with what looked so bleak and barren in winter. We can finally move beyond daydreams to action. Farmers certainly have plenty of hopes and plans. Gardeners can’t wait to play in the soil, having a chance to finally develop that new project they day-dreamed about on a snowy day in January. Others of us might plan to adopt new habits, turning over a new leaf in our life.
Those who found themselves house-bound through the winter ice and snow have a sense of release, as if being let out of a prison. Those who missed baseball are ecstatic as 
they welcome back “the boys of summer.” The comedian Robin Williams says, “Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!’” It’s time to put down the video games and turn of the television and head outside for a party – sit on a park bench, swing a bat, toss a football, start a new flower bed, go for a leisurely walk, or hike through a forest to watch and listen for the emergent life.
Shakespeare helps us with spring, not just winter. He says in one of the sonnets: “April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” Let’s head out and enjoy that spirit. Let’s be young, at least in spirit. We know all too well what will happen late in the fall.