Forgiveness

   

Delightful as spring might be, the early part of it is often a messy and dirty business.  The balmy temperatures may be pleasanter on our skin but dark skies, mud, slush, and grimy ice soon weary our eyes with unrelenting shades of gray and brown.  The beautiful greens, floral hues, and brighter light that we usually associate with spring can come only later in the season when the drab, unpleasant days have run their course.

We all rejoice when the messy and sloppy days of spring begin, because we know that they are the necessary first steps to the better and more beautiful days, presently waiting in the wings for their cue.  And let’s face it, we also don’t complain much when a spring snowfall cleans everything up for a short time, with pristine whiteness covering the mud-splashed roads, moldy leaves and other debris that had begun to emerge from the melting snow.  We appreciate the break from the ugliness.

To me, Nature’s processes are images that correlate to our lives.  I  think that my soul feels like the “slop” of early spring on those occasions when I’m not living well, not respecting myself and my needs, nor those of people I care about.  I was taught to call those instances when I make poor choices sin but now that I’m older and hopefully, wiser, I like to think more deeply and use words that define how I have gone wrong.  If our purpose here on earth is to love God, ourselves, and others, then we all miss the mark sometimes.

 

Our selfishness, our parsimony, and our ungracious and hurtful responses are like the dirty puddles and stained snow banks of early spring.  They feel ugly in our souls.  They, too, are part of the process to get nearer to the better aspects of life, the purity and innocence of a brighter part of the season. 

And the way to clean things up is through forgiveness.  Like a snowfall that periodically whisks away the dirtiness of spring’s process, forgiveness sweeps aside all the ugliness some choices in our lives  may have created in our souls.  A simple and heartfelt “I’m sorry” and forgiveness freely granted by our Maker bleaches that landscape as pure again as an early spring snowfall.

So, I’m not very unhappy when spring periodically seems delayed by one of those falls of fresh, white snow.  When I see how much brighter the world then becomes, I’m reminded of the parallel process available to me when my soul’s landscape has become dingy and gray.  I recognize that I need a snowfall of forgiveness to feel refreshed and clean.  And I know what I need to do, as I walk my country mile, to arrive at the beautiful warm days of late spring in my soul and bask in the warmth and the light.