Sunshine!

"A day without sunshine is like, you know, night." - Steve Martin

My excitement over today's sunshine and warmer temps are hard to contain at this moment. While I love the changing of seasons, and getting to experience all four seasons...I'm a southern gal at heart, and this winter's snows have been a little much for me. I'm ready to say "adios" to the bitter cold, the inclement weather and overcast days. I am longing for sunshine and spring. We are entering a warming trend for the next several days which will have us hitting the 70 degree mark by the week's end, and this ol' chick couldn't be happier.

To shake off my winter doldrums, I've bought inexpensive bouquets of fresh tulips the last 3 weeks and placed them in a vase on my table. They're an instant mood-lifter. And I've been perusing flower and seed catalogs envisioning my dead brown yard of dirt and sticks transforming into a mini version of the Memphis Botanic Gardens. I've actually ordered seeds which have already arrived, and for those of you who know me, it will be an accomplishment if they make it from the seed packet to the soil. I tend to not have the patience for seeds, and end up buying established plants for the instant gratification. I'll still do that once the flowers hit the nurseries in a couple of months, but I'm working on practicing the discipline of patience, so I'm actually hoping to start my seeds this season, nurture them and watch them grow.

In some ways, I feel like a tender young seed...ironic, since I'm a middle aged woman. But having started a new phase in life, I'm in a phase of rediscovering and redefining who I am as a woman. I'm so glad that God isn't lacking in patience like I am! He's planted me in new soil at this part of my life...I've been uprooted from married life and transplanted into singlehood. My roots aren't sturdy or well-established yet, but I AM rooted in the soil of God's garden....He is providing me shelter, He is giving me nutrition, and He is helping my root system to grow. I'm anxious to see what blossoms in my new life, and I hope that I become the woman that God has designed me to be.