I BASK in the warmth of the sun today with eyes that feast on blossoming trees. Blossoms that transform a colorless winter-dead landscape into the vivid, living breath of spring. A bride in white lace waltzes in the breeze with her gowned bridesmaids in dogwood pink to exult in the glory of Creator. I love springtime here in Spokane, especially after a hard winter. Especially. Maybe I would not appreciate the whisper of spring if I had not heard the groans or felt the bitter tears of winter. Maybe I would take the sun’s warmth for granted if winter had not first gripped my heart and frozen my very breath. Perhaps I’d be oblivious to the beauty around me today if I had not seen the ugliness of naked, black branches etched against a brazen sky. But today, my Lover speaks and says to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me. . . My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” *1 So many emotions stir within! Both the winter and the spring of my life squeeze and press my heart—painfully and mysteriously molding it into the very image of Jesus (see Rom. 8:28-29). I cannot change the past, but the past can change me. Therefore, I strive to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and determine to run with perseverance the race marked out for me. For me.*2 Our sacred romance, the Lover of our souls calls to each of us. He calls us to Himself. He calls us out of this earth place to walk with Him in the light, to abide in the Vine, and to fill us with Himself as nothing in this world can ever do. Jesus… O Jesus is our whisper of spring. *1 Song of Songs 2:10-15 *2 Hebrews 12:1