The blessing of emerging Spring

The congregation  has gathered....

and offer up their hymn...

as they join together in anticipation.

Ice is out now...

the brook babbles
her Ode to Joy.
Listen, do you hear it?

“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, 
Spring comes, 

and the grass grows, by itself.” 
                                  ― Bashō


Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth 
find reserves of strength that will endure 
as long as life lasts. 
There is symbolic as well as actual beauty 
in the migration of the birds, 
the ebb and flow of the tides, 
the folded bud ready for the spring. 
There is something infinitely healing 
in the repeated refrains of nature—
the assurance that dawn comes after night, 
and spring after the winter.
                         –Rachel Carson