Where flowers bloom, so does hope.
-Lady Bird Johnson
The world is hard right now. The information flooding our newsfeeds, televisions and other news sources can be overwhelmingly bleak from the Russian-Ukraine conflict to political divides to neighbors just not being very neighborly. And while so much feels completely out of our control, we must choose to have hope.
While winter doesn't seem to be leaving, the signs of spring are starting to show up all around us. A couple of weeks ago I was working in our yard and spotted my first glimmer of spring. There, underneath the overgrown leafy vegetation, was a single grape hyacinth bloom. Just ONE. Sure, many more will come along but this one decided to peek itself out a little early and goodness I needed it. I needed the reassurance that even though this season of life is hard and long and tiring, a new season will come.
It's certainly hard to choose hope when all you see is the despair and the struggle. But I encourage you, as the temperatures continue on their roller coaster, take a deep breath & look for what's blooming. While we don't have control over so much of what is happening, we do have control of ourselves. Send an encouraging text. Bake cookies for a neighbor. Be extra generous in your tipping. Become the bloom for someone you encounter each day. Extend grace in the hard seasons and remember that it's just that...a season, and hope is sure to bloom very soon.