Hello readers,
Happy first day of Spring! If ever there’s a time for a renewed feeling of hopefulness, to me anyway, it’s in the Spring. In the Spring, possibilities seem virtually endless. All green things rise up from the earth. New signs of life are everywhere–in the budding of flowers, in the nests of birds, in the sounds of peepers (that’s what we in the South call baby frogs) from a nearby pond, in the trotting of a calf alongside its mother in a pasture near my house.
Some people may still be feeling the pinch of hopelessness from the crisis of this past twelve months. Many of us have lost friends and loved ones due to the pandemic; I myself have also experienced the loss of people due to suicide caused by despair.
There’s a saying that goes something like this: “The eyes are the windows to the soul.” To take this quote and make it relevant to the last year’s challenges, I’d say, “In the eyes of catastrophe is the soul of opportunity.”
Many positive things have come out of the past 12 months. Neighbors with whom I’ve had only a nodding acquaintance have become friends. We’ve been doing things for each other like cleaning up yards together (in the aftermath of September’s Hurricane Sally), checking on each other’s houses when we’re away, and just becoming a true neighborhood instead of a cluster of houses in which strangers live. Several people I know have taken advantage of this time of being shuttered away to start new businesses. Although many would say “A pandemic is the worst time to start a business,” these businesses are actually doing quite well!
I’d like to hear from YOU, dear reader, as to what positive things you have experienced since February-March of 2020. May God bless you for the rest of 2021, and have a delightful Spring, full of growth and self-renewal.
Best,
T. (Theresa)
