Spring is definitely one of my favorite seasons; at the very least it’s in my top four. It probably gets a boost by being so close to winter. In winter the trees are bare, the sky can be grey, and things just feel a little bleak. Sure, that view can change if you’re in a cozy, quaint mountain cabin, but we don’t all have vacation homes. Spring is something we can all enjoy wherever we find ourselves, but some years winter just feels like it drags on forever. Some years, you walk out on a sunny late March morning and curse the sky because it’s beautiful, but it’s only 30 degrees!

It is in these times we remember the importance of learning patience (literally the worst lesson). We only learn to have more patience by having it tested. And it’s never a fun test like “Which Disney princess are you?” (I’m a Rapunzel). It’s the kind of test where someone seems to dance a jig on your very last nerve. It’s like those days when you get cutoff on the road and start thinking, “This might be the time, prison can’t be that bad.”

But, then you take a deep breath and realize that this too will pass. James 5:7-8 calls us to, “7 Be patient, therefore, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

Most of us don’t actively know the hard work of being a farmer, but I hope we can appreciate it. If you plant a seed today and dig it up tomorrow, you’re just going to find a dirty seed. If we want those seeds, those attributes describing us, to grow, we need to take the time to tend to them.

We love spring because it feels like a reward for our patience in winter.