Renewal

Everywhere you look, here in Maine, there are signs of beginnings. Flowers painting their colors across the fields and gardens, green everywhere (remember, our winter was remarkably long and cold) is bursting forth through the browned remnants of last year. Newly born animals seem to be proliferate this year. While biking in the university forest the other night, I had to stop and wait while a mother doe crossed the trail with what could only be a few-hours-old fawn. It was so delicate and small! I didn't get a picture because I didn't want to spook them. Yesterday, while road biking, I had to help a baby snapping turtle get across a busy highway before it was run over. A flock of wild turkeys, adult and newly hatched, were hanging out where I walk the dogs. Ducklings are everywhere. 

The past year(s) have been challenging for people in my life. I can't help but take all these sightings of new life as a reminder that there are new beginnings. That life manages to stumble and tumble onward. That for every loss there is something just starting. Strenuous winters make way for vibrant springs. Renewing hope pokes its head up through the rubble of what's changed or gone. Look at it, it is showing itself in so many ways.