Spring has sprung, and I could not be happier about it.  I’ve been looking forward to it since January 1.  It has been a long wintry season for Sweet William and me.

There are so many special things about the springtime.  Let me just count the ways.

Every year I have a ritual I call “surveying my kingdom.”  I am not rich by any means nor do I have acres and acres of land.  My kingdom is my home, my yard, and my field.  I like to walk its boundaries and look for signs of new growth on the tress and bushes, see what perennials are coming up, admire the daffodils in full bloom, and plan what I want to do this year.  Some of my plantings have come from other people, and when I look at them, I remember.

I’ve picked my first bouquet of yellow daffodils in several varieties, put them in a vase with a few pussy willow twigs, and carried them to work.  It became spring in my office.

The children who live on our lane have been playing up and down it, riding bikes, scooters and skateboards. Their laughter and childish play are like a dose of good medicine.

The Bradford Pear tree is putting on her white blossom dress.  The forsythias are yellowing, the willows are greening.

My grandchildren and I looked until we found the killdeer’s nest again this year.  She builds it right on the ground, camouflaged by the brown areas in the grass.  Trying to lure us away, mother killdeer fluttered and squawked like she was hurt badly when we got near the nest.  But we found it, taking careful slow steps so as not to step on the nest with its four beautiful speckled eggs.

I picked an egg from the fridge and stood it on its end at 7:09 pm on March 20, about the time of the vernal equinox.  It just stood there until 7:19 when it rolled over like an egg ought to do.

I fixed unleavened bread for supper tonight to go with the Somewhere in Thyme tomato soup recipe I love. Unleavened bread makes me think of the Jewish celebration of Passover and its wonderful symbolic relationship to Jesus’ last supper with His disciples.  (The bread the recipe is below if you want to make some.)

I watch with eagerness for the full moon. It will be a month from now and another full moon will shine on the first day of Passover which purposefully falls around the season of Good Friday and Easter.

I’m wearing my cross necklace now around the clock.  I touch it.  Mine is pretty.  His was not.  It is my constant reminder of Jesus’ last days before His crucifixion.  I think about His last month, the activities in which He was a participant, the determination He had as He set His face toward Jerusalem knowing what awaited Him there.

I’m preparing myself to watch The Passion movie.  It has become somewhat of an annual event.  It is not a movie I will sit down to view with a bowl of popcorn and a cola.  I must give it my attention to be reminded how much my sin cost my Savior.

The price paid for sin was not a cheap price.  The bounty of blessings I enjoy today  – joy, peace, reconciliation, restoration – are mine because God loved me so much that He gave His One and Only Son in my place.  My debt has been wiped clean.

It’s Spring.  It’s a season for new life.  And I am so thankful!

Recipe for Unleavened Bread

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoon canola oil
• 6-8 tablespoons water

Mix flour and salt.  Add oil and water.  Mixture should form a soft dough.  Add  more flour or water as necessary.  Roll or pat out the dough to about 1/4 inch.  Prick with a fork.  Place on a greased baking pan and bake at 400 degrees for about 12 to 16 minutes until golden brown.

Makes enough for 4 people.  Serve with soup.

Leave a comment and let me know if you like the Unleavened Bread.