Spring is such a hopeful season where we awake from the slumber of winter, turn our face to the sun, and look forward to new life. The buds on the trees always strike me in spring. Each bud contains all the information it needs to become a full grown leaf. I am always fascinated by the power of life we find in nature. All the information needed for a new life is often so small, so fragile, but it has all the information it needs to be who or what it can be. Cells divide, and divide, and divide and we have a new life, but all life comes from such a small and unassuming beginning. Now, once life begins, there is no telling what might happen. Perhaps, the new life will go no further than the bud. Maybe someone will come along and break off the branch and what had begun will come to an early end. Maybe, however, the branch will put out leaves and put one more year of growth on the tree. There is no way of telling from the bud what the end of the story will be.
What I like about spring is the hope it gives us. Each year, we see the end of the slumber of winter and experience the waking up of spring. Many of us turn our thoughts to the cycle of life—this continual end of life and rebirth. Sometimes we go through a period of time in our lives where we need to take a step back, or even retreat. In that time, we can come to ourselves and see a new way or new path that we would like to take. When the springtime of change is upon us, let us take the step in the new direction. Let us push forward like the little buds and discover the new life we might be entering. This year may we put forth a new layer of growth and strengthen our journey. All the information we need to become who we are becoming resides already within us.