A small, but valuable life

My favorite movie has been You've got mail, for a long time now. I remember my mom taking my sister and I to see it in the theatres, and I have loved it ever since despite my sister falling asleep and claiming it was the most boring movie she'd ever sat through. It's just so cute. And quotable. This is one of my favorites: "Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life - well, valuable, but small - and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave?" I know what you mean, Kathleen Kelly. During the winter, I often feel like life just slows to a crawl. I sit at home and read, or sew, or watch movies/tv with my husband. I like doing all of the above, but it just feels a little aimless.

Now that it's beginning to be spring again, I just feel like I'm more alive. I'm planting things, and feeding birds, visiting people, going for jogs, and watching the green come back into the Earth. Talk about breathing life into things. Once again, I feel like I have a life. I'm working on projects and thinking about goals I can create for the summer. It's a good time. Even though none of these things are large things, they are so important to my well-being. It's a small life, but one I thoroughly enjoy, especially around this time of year.

Spring has always been, for me, a metaphor for the Christian's relationship with Christ. C.S. Lewis' line in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, "It's always winter and never Christmas," is like a life without the saving grace of God. You may be able to tolerate it, and live through it, but there's no Christmas. There's no redeeming event at the end. Spring always reminds me of what is to come. Winter is rough, and this life certainly has its rough moments (and it doesn't get easier as you get older as I always thought it would), but there's something better at the end of this life. And it's the spring. It's the light at the end of the tunnel. Only it's so much better than spring that I can't even imagine it.

So how appropriate is it that Easter and spring go hand in hand. You may claim that Easter is another one of those holidays that the church took from a pagan holiday and turned it into a Christian one, but quite frankly, it doesn't matter. It's appropriate. The time when we pause to remember our Lord's death and subsequent resurrection from the tomb is when the world renews itself, the flowers raise out of the ground, and you feel the warmth of the sun (or Son, if you will!) once again.

Let's remember, as we enjoy this beautiful weather in PA, that the beauty of the Lord's sacrifice for us surpasses all this earthly joy. And let's thank the creator for giving us both the gift of spring, and the gift of eternal life.