EDITOR’S NOTE: This editorial is adapted from one that originally published April 9, 2023.
Flowers are poking up through the thawing earth. Trees and bushes are sporting their vibrant blooms. Grass is growing and getting greener.
The birds that flew south for the winter are returning. The small critters that burrowed deep for the cold months are out frolicking. The larger animals that hibernated are emerging from their long naps. And there’s a plethora of adorable furry and feathered babies.
Spring is recognized across cultures and religions as a time of birth, rebirth and renewal. Because just as something in the plants and animals recognizes spring as the time to wake up and begin anew, something in us does, too.
We’re emerging from closed up houses and from under layers of clothes. (Some of us may have even dared to wear shorts and T-shirts in the last few weeks.) We’re shaking off our seasonal sadness and sunlight-deficiency-induced exhaustion. We’re spending more time outdoors and traveling for short trips or longer vacations. We’re “spring cleaning” — or will be soon. We’re maybe just a little more excited to greet each day.
As modern humans, our daily lives are not dictated by the seasons the ways our ancestors’ were. But we still recognize that certain times of year are special. Summer brings bounty and the fullness of life; fall reaps the harvest and communes with death; winter forces us to slow down, at least a little. And spring … spring always seems hopeful, a time of regeneration and restoration.
There’s a kind of resilience in spring. Something about the way new buds cling to branches and stems and still insist on blossoming, despite the late-season snows or the raging thunderstorms. So many of the plants we thought were dead are coming back to life. Maybe not all the squirrels and bunnies and deer that make themselves at home in our backyards survived the winter, but a new generation is filling their place.
Today, many of us are celebrating Easter (a tale of resurrection) or Ramadan (a time of spiritual growth). But even if we’re just happily hunting plastic eggs and stuffing our faces with chocolate — sans the religious accoutrements — we can still learn from the lessons of spring: Birth, rebirth, renewal.
Nature has its cycles, and so will you.
