The Lord Giveth. . .

The past couple of weeks have brought the official end of winter and some delightful days that made me believe Spring had arrived. Walking across Temple square I was startled to hear the sound of sprinklers. Yes, someone was watering the flower beds. Must be spring. Little buds and tiny leaves were popping out all over the trees. Flowers bloomed from the ground and from flower boxes hanging from the Temple walls. Just when I decided it was safe to leave my coat at home I was surprised to awake to a snow covered world. By afternoon the snow was mostly melted and I again took a deep breath and believed it to be a minor setback. The next two mornings brought more of the same, Spring covered by a miserable blanket of white.

My family from California has been visiting and I was busy hating the snow, for their sakes, when I noticed that they didn't seem to mind at all. In no time they had gathered enough of it to make a giant snowman. In my anxiety about slipping and breaking my neck I had forgotten that snow is fun!

Thursday was my wedding anniversary. I was able to attend the temple that day and remember gratefully the day my sweetheart and I were sealed for Eternity in a House of God not far from here. What joy to know that our separation is just temporary.

I ran across a poem by my father Charles Osborn that says it so well:

Spring

The emergence of new life from the black earth

Is the annual prompting from God

That cold and dark and death

Are only a brief test of faith.

The celebration of the Easter season, the new life struggling with the tentative Spring, the glorious messages of hope brought to us this conference are also reminders that God is in His Heaven and is mindful of us here.