On the fifth day of Creation, all across the sky,
God created brilliant creatures that He allowed to fly.
He gave them wings, beaks, feathers, and claws,
And He praised as “good” all that He saw.
~Christine Lamke, 4th grade teacher

Springtime, more than any other time of year, is a banquet for all the senses.  More than that it is a season in which humanity is bombarded with “expressions of God’s essence.”  To discover this all one has to do is venture in and spend time within a garden’s walls, and then he/she can’t help but notice that the roots therein reach deep down into the mystery of God’s life and bring His glory to the surface.

As fortune would have it, we who live in this area are blessed with early springtimes.  As a result the birds begin busily bringing in bits of grass and leaves to build new nests several weeks in advance of the vernal equinox.  Also since the hum of a small faction of bees is heard fairly early, we know it won’t be long before more of them as well as creatures of “nest, pond, or tree,” will be dining on the garden’s swelling numbers of tasty tidbits such as “insects, fruit, pollen, and seeds.”  The perks for me are watching this drama start to unfold as early as January or February and then in March and April being blessed with a host of “brilliant creatures” who “float, hover, swoop, soar, or fly” to the lovely silence of growing things in my garden.

And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”  ~Exodus 33:19  ✝