Spring in South Carolina is usually very short-lived. One day the weather changes from winter cold and frost to warm with yellow pine-pollen dusting everything from the inside of my china cabinet to the cars in the WalMart parking lot. Of course I don’t shop at WalMart…every day.
Rings of yellow remain around rain puddles and change the bass ponds near our home into Yellowstone National Park look-alike cauldrons I expect to begin bubbling with mud at any moment. Likewise, my border collie’s bib and paws turn a lovely shade of chain-smoker’s-mustache from her “refreshing” swims in the muck and then… Voila! It’s summer and I begin begging, OK it’s whining, for my husband to please cut on the A/C!!
But this year has, with the exception of yellow pine-pollen dust and sneezing, been different! We have had weeks and weeks of cool-warm-cool days with glorious spring blossoms that include, just across the nearby Savannah River, perfectly blooming azaleas on the Amen Corner of The Masters!
It has been truly inspiring and last weekend I had such a case of spring fever I planted the vegetable garden! I may live to regret my early planting as April anywhere can really fool you and the South does not get a pass on that one. Many a peach crop has been ruined by a late frost and, as every dues-paying member of the Trenton Country Garden Clubs knows, you’re not supposed to plant until you see the pecan trees bloom. I just checked. Not a leaf in sight…
Interestingly my morning devotion comes from Psalm 118:24 and focuses on thanking the Lord, “for He is good, His love endure forever.” Sarah Young, the author of Jesus Calling who writes as if Jesus were talking directly to the reader, wrote for today, “Be careful not to complain about anything, even the weather, since I am the Author of your circumstances.”
Those are wise words and good advice. So, even if the unwanted happens and my early planting of yummy tender-leaf butter lettuce does not work out as I hoped, neither the bunnies nor I will complain. I’ll just go back to WalMart and buy us some more plants.
