This is the day we’ve been waiting for! It is officially the first day of spring. Grass starts to green, it’s almost time to start gardening, buds are on the trees, and even the air smells better. The green flag has been dropped, and we are in a race to get our mowers ready for the mowing season, anticipating that first mowing and the smell of fresh cut grass.
We also hope that by now, all the snow has disappeared, and temperatures are starting to rise. It’s possible that the first tulips are even beginning to poke through the ground, waiting for the right moment to open with their beautiful colors.
The more scientific and sterile explanation of the season is the vernal equinox. “The vernal equinox marks the moment the sun crosses the celestial equator. This is the imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator, from south to north.”1 Spring sounds a lot better!
There is something invigorating about spring. Christina Rossetti wrote a poem in the 19th c. that became a Christmas carol. It was called In The Bleak Midwinter.
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.
That sounds as drab and depressing as you can get! So, when spring rolls in, we feel something come alive within us as we shake off the bitter bleakness of winter. We come out of the frigid cold of winter and rejoice as new life begins.
It’s only natural that we feel this way – or maybe I should say, divine. God created the seasons according to Genesis 1:14. “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.” Then, throughout the Bible, the Lord referenced those seasons and springtime was used as a metaphor for renewal, new life, and hope.
The Song of Solomon 2:11-13 says, “For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
(12) The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; (13) The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell.” When I read about the “voice of the turtle,” I wondered what sound a turtle makes.
“While turtles don’t have vocal cords, they are still capable of producing a wide range of noises and sounds. While some of the sounds produced are audible to humans, most aren’t even in the range of human hearing – as such, we don’t hear them. These sounds serve different purposes. Turtles communicate with each other and even express emotions such as fear through sounds. Some turtles cluck like chickens, hiss and even produce high-pitched whining sounds.
“So at this stage you are probably wondering how turtles produce sound if they don’t have any vocal cords? It’s pretty simple really, they make sounds by expelling air out of their lungs.”2
That doesn’t sound very pleasant or enticing! So I went back to the Hebrew and the word for turtle is talking about the turtledove or just a dove in general. Spring is definitely filled with the sweet sound of birds singing.
Wherever you are today, whatever you are doing, take some time and go outdoors. Enjoy this first day of spring. Celebrate the God and Creator of this world. Inhale deeply. Look at all the colors. Find all the evidences of growth and life. And give the Lord the glory.
“For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” (Isaiah 61:11)
1https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-day/spring-begins-changes-annually
2https://www.allturtles.com/turtle-sounds/
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