The Bittersweetness of Spring

For months we've waited for relief from the chill, relief from our kids' drippy noses and hoarse coughs, and relief from those gray skies and bare trees.  Relief has finally come.  The chill has been replaced with warmth, the noses have dried, coughs have quieted, and sunshine and a blanket of green have returned.  For a moment, all seems right with the world.  All until morning dawns and we discover a layer of pollen coating our cars, a lawn that cries out for a weekly mowing, and sinus pressure reminding us of that little nuisance called allergies.

Isn't that the way with life sometimes.  Trials and struggles moving alongside the beauty and excitement of a new season.

So it's been with our life as of late.  We've entered a busy but joyful time with the buying of our first house--new projects, more room, and the feeling of finally being settled.  But in the midst of this has come struggles too.  After undergoing fertility treatment in order to get pregnant with the boys, we had one more good chance of bringing another child into this world.  But in April we learned that it wasn't meant to be.  And though the pain of infertility is nothing new to us and though it's nothing compared to those days when we so desperately just wanted one child, the pain still stings.   

But the times keep moving, and so does this season.  With life's disappointments come new hopes, new callings, and new strength.  And with it also comes a powerful reminder.  Through cloud and sunshine, He will abide with me . . .

"I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace, can foil the tempter's power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be
Through cloud and sunshine, abide with me."

                           ~Henry Francis Lyte

 Link to "Abide With Me" sung by Indelible Grace

 My rays of sunshine: