TRUST

Spring is in full bloom now.  My roses are beginning to be heavy with flowers, and most of the early bulbs and lilies are finished.  The trees are almost fully leafed out.  I have a tulip tree that still has blossoms all over it, and the sparrows are going crazy feasting on whatever feasts on the tulip tree blossoms.  We've had a wonderful mid-April through early May rain season as well as wonderful temperatures. Spring is already my favorite season of the year (my wife loves Fall more), but this year Spring has been a joy.  Every year I look forward to it, but sometimes winter hangs on too long and we end up with no fruit on the trees or the vines.  So, I am always grateful for this kind of Spring. 
Who am I grateful to?   God, of course!!  I trust He knows what we need, even if sometimes His plan doesn't quite fulfill my idea of what He should do.  As someone who grew up in the southwestern city of El Paso, Texas, I appreciate the full on green of Harrison, Arkansas.  Everything, everyone, and yes, even everyplace, has good things about them, and bad.  Growing up in El Paso, the daily paper kept a small little corner of the front page reserved for the "Sunshine Report".   The report simply kept a tabulation of how many days the sun shined over the city.  It didn't matter if the sun only came out for just a few minutes, it was still enough to add to the total.  I don't remember what year it was, but I do remember reading on one particular day that the sun had shone for 3,242 days.  I remember it because that day I went to school and wrote it on the chalkboard.  It impressed me that in just under ten years, the sun had shone that many days in a row.  During the day, my remark got the most remarks I'd ever got from anything I'd ever wrote. (My English teacher gave me a small corner in which to write my musings, and poetry.  Blame her for this blog.) The remarks went from "understated wow!", to "The sun is always shining, dummy!"   Reading those remarks left me a little hurt.  Was I truly the only one who thought it was amazing that this city had been blessed with a glimpse of the sun every day for over nine years?  It wasn't miraculous, nor was it even momentous, it was simply noteworthy. 
Since that time, I've lived in different parts of the country where the weather can hide the sun for as long as fourteen days in a row. (Talk about cabin fever.)  I remember a winter in Mtn Home, Idaho where thanks to the ash from Mt. St. Helens, we had a winter with so much snow that I had to cross country ski to work for a week.  Which even as bad as that was, is not as bad as I've heard about in different areas of the country.  One thing I've learned as I've grown up, is that even as dark or stormy as the weather may be, I have to trust that somewhere above the storm, the sun is shining.  So, my High School critic was really correct, just insensitive. 
I trust God, that this lovely blue marble is still spinning as it should, and that it is still orbiting the sun as it should.  I have to trust that even though I may not see it happening visibly with my eyes, I know it is happening.
The march of seasons is what allows this planet to support the mass of human beings living on its surface.  I know from what I've seen in the historical record, that there have been times on this planet where seasons weren't that pronounced.  There may come a day when through some amazing event, we may not see the sun, and this world will be thrown into chaos.  If that day were to come, I would still trust God's plan because I know Him.  I trust Him to continue to guide this amazing planet in its path through the solar system.  The only other alternative is to live in fear. 
As I watch the little sparrows going about their daily life, I wonder if they even have a clue as to how precarious the perch is that we all share on this amazing course through space?   Do they have an innate knowledge of God's provision?  Do they even care?  Do they trust?  These question often come to me while I watch their antics.  My heart tells me they don't, but then I wonder how I do? 
Lucky sparrows.