Spring

By 4:00 this afternoon when I left my school building, spring seemed to have returned to the St. Louis area. The warmth of the sun overruled the cool breeze and made me want to skip the after-school meeting to which I was headed. (I went.) But driving home from the meeting around 5:30, it had warmed up even a little more. I was in no hurry to get home; my husband was staying late at school for an awards ceremony of his own. I stopped at our local state park, and took a short walk. The foliage was recovering from the last cold snap with little green buds reaching for the sky.

As a teacher, spring is a time to reflect on the past school year, and anticipate the coming summer. This summer my husband and I are going on a MAJOR road trip. I'm so looking forward to it. We are headed west--anything west of Missouri. We're going to see the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Jackson Hole Wyoming, Yosemite, the Tetons, Seattle, all the way down the West Coast. Back across through several National Parks in Utah, the Grand Canyon, back across the Rockies, and home again. Because we can, we're taking about a month to enjoy God's creation.

I think sometimes in our little worlds, it's easy to forget the grandeur of God. There are miracles and amazing, unbelievable wonders in the small things, no doubt. But to see the wide open spaces, the enormity of the mountains and the ocean, crashing waves, a giant redwood tree, the Grand Canyon--I can't wait to be in awe.

Spring is the time for renewal in nature, but for a teacher, it is the end of a school year--bittersweet. I will miss some of the kids, some, I must admit, I'll be glad to send on their way. With others, I will just enjoy the respite of summer and be ready to see them again next fall. These last weeks with the seniors will be simultaneously fun and taxing. There are many exciting activities planned, but there is also the pressure of passing classes. I only pray, that these students, once they leave our little school, know they are loved, and know they have their entire lives ahead of them.