A couple of back-to-back meetings sandwiching my lunch hour today brought me outside for a good portion of the middle of the day.
As I walked out of the office to the street, there was a small stream of water flowing alongside the curb, just under the hard-packed snow left from a long, long winter.
I hopped over the small trickle of water, walked across the street, and then hopped a similar small trick of water running alongside the curb on the other side of the street.
As I hopped on the sidewalk, I walked alongside the fence around our parking lot, dodging more puddles that had filled in the divots in our sidewalk. Finally, I came to the break in the fence that allows you to enter the parking lot, and there was a much larger puddle formed because the tar of the parking lot had peeled back from the concrete of the public sidewalk.
And all the way to my car there were small streams following cracks in the parking and puddles of various sizes left behind in potholes and seams in the concrete and tar.
It was glorious. The water runoff and puddles were caused by a powerful late winter sun, and everywhere you looked, the blazing sun beat off the watery services. It was almost blinding.
For those who live in warmer climes might not understand the beauty of such a day.
But for us here, today marked the fourth consecutive day in which we reached a temperature greater than 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Four days!
While the temp was only in the mid-30s, it felt much warmer than that thanks to the sun which is growing ever nearer our hemisphere, giving everyone a little hope today that spring will sprung sooner rather than later.
It's been a tough winter for us. In fact, it's the second tough winter we've had in a row. Starting early, with numerous blizzards and a lot of snowfall. It's led us all to cabin fever and a tad on the crazy side.
So when I walked outside today, and felt that warmth hit my face, and I saw that shimmery water, glistening in the sun, well ... it felt like a bit of heaven. It reminded me that spring actually will come even though we've suffered through about a half of year of winter. It reminded me that there are seasons to everything, and the winter that never seemed that it would end, will slowly melt into spring. ... And one day soon, we'll see green grass and we'll shed the winter coats and we'll feel lively again.
And so even though the lowly puddles may seem like a silly thing to celebrate, today they brought a smile to my face that was beaming. ... And that is why today that I am finding faith in the puddles. ... Amen.
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