It’s May!

“It’s May, it’s May,” sang Guinevere in Camelot, my all-time favorite movie.

The earth’s alive, and everything’s abloom. If you’re an allergy sufferer, then bless you. I hope you can still savor the season.

Springtime, this season of rebirth, represents a season of hope. It’s what the world needs now. Yes, it needs love, sweet love; but it also needs hope.

According to naturalist Edwin Way Teale, “All things seem possible in May.”

Henry David Thoreau labeled this month “an experience in immortality.”

When I walk around my subdivision or work in my yard during this season, I sense the glory of God. The sights, sounds, and scents coming from my limited world of flora and fauna inspire me.

I cherish the lily of the valley, azaleas, rhododendron, and knockout roses currently in bloom around me. Every year around Mother’s Day, my peony bush bursts open and reminds me of my paternal grandmother’s colorful spring yard.

As a child, my sister and I watched our mother lovingly care for a garden of gladioli, and we often played in the shade of our maternal grandmother’s Rose of Sharon bush. Now my sister’s own green thumb produces beautiful roses and hydrangeas every spring.

From the squirrels that scamper through my towering oak trees to the tiny acorns that fall, I revel in the majesty of the One who made them all.

Yes, Shakespeare, “I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, where oxlips and the nodding violet grows.”

The month of May gives me hope. I agree with Robert Browning: “God IS in His heaven, and all’s right with the world.”

In today’s world it’s easy to get caught up in the negativity and deceit and sinfulness surrounding us all. However, those things have always been a part of us.

I am often overwhelmed by the leaves blanketing my yard during fall and winter. I imagine life would be much simpler without all my trees. Then suddenly my trees are filled with song. The season of spring reminds me to change my perspective, to look for inspiration, to believe in newness.

The apostle Paul urges his friend Timothy to flee from evil and fight the good fight of faith. (See 1 Timothy, Chapter 6.)

Philippians 4:8 tells us to focus on “whatever is true, whatever is honest, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report.”

Springtime can be a mood booster. Allow yourself to bask in its beauty.

If you can, take a walk around your home, your street, your local park. Soak up the sounds and scents and scenery. Breathe in the new. Let go of the old. Find the hope.

The movie Camelot revolves around the theme of good versus evil, the same good and evil present in our world today. There is betrayal, but there is also forgiveness. Lancelot and Guinevere take the tonsure and the veil for their sins; but, most importantly, Arthur forgives them.

Arthur believes in the power of forgiveness. He sees hope in a young boy, a boy who has a vision for the future.

We may have been through a rough winter, but spring is upon us. It gives us hope. Let’s hold on to it!

If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring? Pilgrims!!

By the way, the Pilgrim’s ship was called the Mayflower because it was scheduled to set sail in May, and the word flower was added to symbolize the hope of finding a new opportunity in a new world.

Romans 12:12; Song of Songs 2:1; Matthew 6:25-27; Psalm 104:12