Spring is a Declaration (by Linda Yezak)

Spring has sprung! Or at least it's trying its level best around these parts. To welcome it in, Linda Yezak sent me a guest post on that very subject. (You may remember Linda's interview with Billy Coffey last week over at Author Culture.)



Linda Yezak lives in Texas and writes romantic comedy. Her novel, Give the Lady a Ride has attracted some attention and is now on an agent's desk, awaiting its fate. Linda teaches an adult creative writing class, serves as a free-lance editor, and is an editor for Port Yonder Press.


photo by Beckey Z

Right now, as I write this, I can look outside the patio windows and witness nature's celebration of spring. The squirrels are engaged in a chase and the ducks in a dance that always results in new life within weeks of the festivities. Birds sing sweet love songs, flowers arc their necks toward the sun's caress, weeds push through the cracks in the concrete or bloom white as powdered sugar in the field.


photo by Beckey Z

After one of the most unusual winters Texas has ever had, this display of warm weather activities seems almost a miracle. In a part of the state that rarely sees snow, we got it three times. At one point, the pond froze over so badly our senior male Muscovy duck, “Drake,” got frustrated trying to get out of it. And today, he's actively engaged in creating a brood of new ducklings as if the past icy experience never happened.


photo by Beckey Z

That's the glory of spring. It's the great eraser, the instant defroster, the immediate heart-warmer. Early spring comes wrapped in a bright green promise of awakening life, of crops in the soil and blooms on the peach trees. Of foals and calves, chicks and ducklings, fawns and 'coon kittens. Spring revitalizes the soul and quickens the spirit of all of us who huddled in wool coats and plodded through the sodden, sullen days of winter.


photo by Beckey Z

Spring is God's declaration that He still loves us. Of all the ways He shows His love, the return of life, beauty and color after the winter's gray hues and bare tree limbs will always be one of my favorites. He showed us the depth of His love when He allowed His Son to be sacrificed for us. He showed us the power of His love through His Son's resurrection. He shows us the continuation of His love through the annual arrival of spring.


photo by Beckey Z

The Declaration of Love, signed by God's own hand with vivid colors, and celebrated by His creation with music and dancing and birth and life. How can we not love Him in return?

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To read more from Linda, please visit her at her blog 777 Peppermint Place. She also created and contributes to Author Culture, and Port Yonder Press. You can follow her on twitter, too: @pprmint777.

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A very special thanks to Beckey Zimmerman of Zimmages for all the beautiful photographs in this post. She's an amazing photographer. You should check out some of her other work!