“Springing Forward”

         I am not a fan of Daylight Savings Time. It’s Wednesday and I’m still sluggish from the hour change three days ago. I keep hoping somebody will pass a bill to stop the nonsense; but here I am once again, trying to remember how to adjust the clock in my car. I understand the purpose of this annual event; and it is nice to have an extra hour of daylight in the evenings. Still, it’s not my favorite time of the year.

         I do like the phrase, “spring forward,” however. I find it rich in meaning and even bearing the identifying marks of a spiritual practice. I especially enjoy the thought of leaping ahead, progression, some kind of movement that takes us out of the shadows of winter, out of the doldrums of inertia. “Springing forward,” is in fact, what is happening all around us in nature. Life is suddenly appearing where it looked like only death.

         In Deuteronomy 1:6, there is an interesting verse intended to speak to the Hebrew listeners about their forty year exodus that reads, “The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Resume your journey.”

         It’s an important verse to me to remind me that sometimes I dwell too long in a place that I need to leave. Sometimes I walk around and around a grudge or source of bitterness and resentment, a disappointment, unable to let it go; and this verse speaks to me to say, “time to go. Time to let it go. Resume your journey.”

         Maybe this year I will embrace the seasonal changes by acknowledging that there are things I need to leave behind. Maybe this year I can recognize where I keep repeating patterns of unnecessary clinging, places in my spirit where I have allowed the root of bitterness to take hold. And just as I have spent a few afternoons in the past weeks pulling up new hardy weeds, trying to ready the soil for planting, I need to spend a little time ridding my spirit of that which seeks to separate me from love, that which threatens my spiritual growth.

         As you move into this season of spring, as you shake off the hold winter may have had on you, may you resume your journey, find a new path, discover a sense of Resurrection and new life. May we all find ourselves relieved of our burdens, freed from that which holds us back, keeps us down, and be able to “spring forward” to a new place in our relationships with God and each other. May it be so!



You are the light of the world!

Warmly,

Lynne