As we move into the beginning of April, we definitely sense the season of spring. Of course, early spring in Montana is anything but predictable. A week ago we were experiencing 60 degree temperatures, followed by 4 to 6 inches of snow. Now that snow is gone, and 60 degree temperatures may be just around the corner again. Or more snow. That’s just the way it is.
Now when I walk my dog around the countryside, I am in lookout mode for what is beginning to sprout up anew out of the ground. Part of the change we see in spring is rebirth. That which is brown becomes green. That which is barren shows buds, and then blooms. Not to mention weeds and invasives which we would sooner do without. But it is all there, pretty much like last year.
For all the talk of global warming (confession: I do believe it is happening), our earth is pretty resilient. Most climate changes take decades or even centuries to fully materialize, although the rate does seem to be increasing. And lest we be concerned that there is a chance of all life on earth coming to an end, well, scientists believe there have been at least five major extinction events in the past, one which destroyed about 95% of all life on the planet. And yet the earth recovered. In fact, in all likelihood, if it had not been for these extinction events, we probably wouldn’t even be here. The world would still be dominated by prehistoric creatures of one kind or another, and mammals never would have taken hold. Extinction events all seem to be part of the cycle of creation.
So here we are, 65 million years after the last major extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs. Do we know enough to take care that something similar doesn’t happen to us, by our own doing? In the 1960s, it was the atomic bomb. In the 2020s, it’s global warming. And we’ve all probably seen at least one movie where the earth gets hit by a comet or meteor.
In the meantime, we see our global population increase, we’re still at war in many places, food is often scarce for many while plentiful for others. But the earth continues to rotate, the seasons come and go, the sun continues to shine and rains pelt the ground. There is a seemingly endless cycle of nature, however much that cycle might ebb and flow, breathe in and breathe out, laugh and cry tears of renewing moisture or devastating floods, or sternly hold back those tears to allow scorching heat. For the most part, we’ve seen it all before.
Today I walk the ground, and I look for change, and I look for hope. Life is complex, nature even more so. Which really makes it nice once in a while to be surprised and in awe of those first signs of new growth in spring. The cycle continues, conveniently for us on a yearly basis, and not like a cycle of millennia that might ensue after a cataclysmic extinction event.
At this point we know not what the rest of the year will bring. The earth has certainly experienced devastating fires, floods, drought, famine, hurricanes, tornados, volcanoes, earthquakes and more, all in recent years. Any or all of those may yet happen. But right now, for this moment, we live in anticipation of the best of nature’s cycles, that of hope and rebirth.
Soon I will walk, and a flower that was not there yesterday will be there today. It is like a sign that God’s creation was not a one-time event, but continues as time goes forward. New creation, new birth, resurrection. It didn’t just happen once. It continues in our lives, and it is all there for us to experience. As we move through these next three months of spring, take time to walk around outside, and be amazed.
