“I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the
brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume
of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all
the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would no longer be enamelled with
lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our lord's living garden.”
[St.
Therese of Lisieux]
With flowers blooming on every corner of the
neighborhood, recent reunions with family and friends, and the approaching due
date of our little girl- that distinct feeling of springtime has arrived at our
door and St. Therese’s words ring with a profound clarity. Her wonderful
description of the flowers in the Lord’s living garden reminds me of the true
treasure that is of each person’s life and that with these living flowers we
are always afforded the fullness of springtime.
That is not to say that life is to be seen through rose-tinted glasses but,
rather, that even in the coldest winter day, there exists the warmth of spring
through the hearts of others.
I loved Pope Francis’ Easter description of the Risen Lord
as it highlights the purest sentiment of this feeling of springtime. He
stated that “Jesus no longer
belongs to the past, but lives in the present and is projected towards the
future; he is the everlasting today
of God.” Meaning that having provided us with the greatest act of love, Christ
proved victory over everything that crushed life and made it seem less human.
Experiencing springtime isn’t, therefore, simply an act of celebrating when
everything feels right or to be going our way. Instead, finding Christ’s love
and sacrifice present in all the circumstances of our lives and seeing the
beauty in all ‘living flowers’ requires a tremendous step of faith.
Pope Francis described
the first visitors at the tomb of Jesus who posed the questions: “What
happened?”, “What is the meaning of all this?” (cf. Lk 24:4). In turn, he
asked: “Doesn’t the same thing also happen to us when something completely new
occurs in our everyday life?” It is here that we can see that the greatest
shortcomings in life are often born out of fear in not understanding something.
In this light, the centuries between us and the original Apostles lose their
distance as we realize that we too might prefer to hold on to our own security,
to stand in front of a tomb, to think about someone who has died, someone who ultimately
lives on only as a memory. What we find in this is that: “We are afraid of
God’s surprises!” Luckily, many times over we find that: “He always surprises
us!" It is in this simple act of going to the tomb, opening ourselves up to a unique newness, where we find that even in our attempts to avoid it....Christ is not dead but alive! This is the defining quality of springtime- where in Christ victory, a seed has taken root, has blossomed, and "nothing remains as it was before."
Standing two weeks from
our ‘full-term’ 37 week mark, there are aaAaAaa-plenty of anxieties and fears
about how our lives may reshape. However, with receiving this beautiful little
life; it is incredible to think that indeed: ‘nothing will be as it was before’…and
what a surprising, beautiful, loving gift that is!!!
Wishing everyone a
beautiful Springtime!
-Teresita y bebé :)
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| A beautiful day in the gardens with the lovely Vanesa & amazing Zoe! |
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| The family, my loooooving cousin Eileen, her kids, and our dear friends Angela & Kat put together a beautiful Texas baby shower for us during our visit! :) Thaaaank YouOuuUuuu! |
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| MmmMmMmMmMmmm...baby food! :) |
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| The beautiful Tina & Jayson....soon to be Mr. & Mrs.!!! |
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| Like the flowers...behold the blossoming belly! It' must be getting tight in there! hahaha |
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| Perfect Easter Sunday with our TX family! :) |
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