Spring

We can see the light at the end of the dark tunnel of winter. 

Yesterday, members of my household were heard exclaiming, "Thank the Lord! We're gonna make it!" It's a funny thing to say, but it betrays a true experience of winter, or any persistent condition. While you're in it you don't think there is anything else. So, you live as if there were nothing else. Or, perhaps in your hibernating imagination you remember dimly that this isn't all that there is. So, with that dim hope you go about your daily existence, constantly forgetting and reminding yourself that spring will come and the T-shirt you are wearing beneath your sweatshirt and coat will someday stand alone. 

But, near the end, when we get a glimpse of the new life to come we unfold in rejoicing like your favorite flower in spring. We vividly remember that this was the future we had been promised the whole time, even when we couldn't imagine or remember it. The gospel is like this and that's why we feel like exclaiming "Thank the Lord!" when the seasons change.