Yesterday, amid sunny skies and 57 degrees, Zac asked if we could set up the little blue pool in our backyard.  I seriously considered it for about it for a minute but decided it would be a lot of water for a three second experience that would ultimately make me out to be the crazy one.

We’ve had a balmy Michigan winter compared to the last few, but it was still winter and the kids were still stuck inside for most of it. Though the calendar tells us Spring is here, the weather is still in identity crisis mode, frosting our car windows in the morning but demanding those same windows be rolled down in the afternoon. This is the time of year when precipitation waits until the very last second before deciding to land as either rain or snow or ice. Transitions are usually a bit awkward, but don’t worry.  History has taught us that Old Man Winter has a succession plan, and it’s to relinquish control to brand new Spring.  Spring is new at this, so they’ll be working in tandem for a few weeks.  “Please stand by,” says Old Man Winter.  “Spring and I should have this figured out by May.”  

Spring belongs to Easter because the change in weather helps our bodies align with our spirits in sensing a new season.  Like Christmas, Easter is one of those holidays with a somewhat arbitrary placement on the Gregorian calendar, though most historians feel more confident about the Resurrection happening around March/April than they do Christmas in December.  Easter moves around the calendar because of a rather involved formula of new moons, vernal equinoxes, phase cancellation and convection ovens.  Of course, all of this becomes more complex in an election year. Nevertheless, the Resurrection belongs to the season of early Spring.  Consider the unavoidable symbolism: cold and death release their grip, warmth and life swoop in.  New sprouts grow as snowbirds find their way back home.  The days are longer and filled with greater exuberance.  We live through Winter, but we become fully alive in the Spring.  The Resurrection, spiritually speaking, makes us fully alive after waiting through the long winter of bitter cold.  Christians are Easter people, oriented toward the season of Spring because of the reminder that we are made alive in Christ.  Our souls bloom and breathe again.  Finally.

No wonder Zac wants to set up the pool.