Spring is finally on its way!

Last week the branches on the trees outside my dining room window looked like this:
I didn't think Spring was ever going to get here. Then we had two days of snow to prove it. This morning I sat down to eat breakfast, and looked out the window. The leaves have already started emerging! In just a week there is a big difference:

I looked out in the back yard, and we have one bush that has bravely gone forth and started to bloom. All the bushes around it are still barren - not even any leaves. It gives me joy to look out and see these flowers, braving the cold, and still shining forth:

Once I noticed those flowers, I looked around and noticed the ground cover starting to bloom:

Spring is on its way! Last Sunday it was nice enough for a little while that Debra and Madeleine could sit out on the porch and enjoy the rocker:

I've had the doldrums the last few weeks. I needed this burst of Spring to help boost me out of it. Then I read a great article in the current BYU Magazine (their alumni magazine) about commitment. It was so inspiring that I decided to make a few new commitments and/or renew some commitments in my life. I won't divulge those commitments, but I will share a quote from the article that I really liked:

Let us be more aware of our commitments; decide now to keep them; follow the Master in our approach to our commitments; set realistic goals to help us endure in our commitments; anticipate the opposition that will come; and reap the blessings, both temporal and eternal, that flow to those who faithfully keep commitments. --Sarah Westerberg, Drawing Lines of Commitment, BYU Magazine, p. 41.

Spring signals a new beginning. I'm going to seize the moment, and begin to live my commitments. I'll be reminded of this goal each time I look out and see the beginnings of the new season all around me. Even if it snows again.