One of the amazing things about living in Southern California is the nearly ever-present sunshine and blue skies. I still pinch myself on January days when the sun is out and I’m enjoying a prayer walk without the need for a jacket. But there is one downside to the nearly constant sunshine – we don’t fully appreciate the spring.

My daughter is attending college in Ohio. She has walked through one of the coldest winters in recent history. But the cold is only part of the challenge of winter in the Midwest. From November to March, the sun is all but covered by a blank, gray sky. Most people become blue and irritable partly due to the lack of serotonin the sun helps the brain provide and partly due to being trapped indoors nearly all day long. Cabin fever is a real thing!

But then the most amazing thing happens:  the sun reappears! The birds begin to sing. Color begins to reemerge. Spring can feel euphoric! On the first day winter begins to thaw, nearly everyone is outside, giddy with the newness of spring. Spring feels like new life, a resurrection of the soul. So when my daughter called the other day on the first day of sunshine feeling energized, excited, and ready to go for a run, I recalled the glory of spring.

The Bible does not shy away from using the analogy of spring to teach us many lessons. The prophet Hosea calls Israel and Judah to return to the Lord, and says, “Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; His going out is sure as the dawn; He will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth” (Hosea 6:3).