It’s hard to tell in Chicago (after experiencing April snow showers) but spring has finally arrived and with it has come spring fever. According to Wikipedia, spring fever is a term applied to several sets of physical and psychological symptoms associated with the arrival of spring. In general it refers to an increase in energy and vitality that usually arises from mid-March to mid-April. Okay. Neither of these are true for me.
However, reading the section on symptoms caught my attention. The symptoms– weariness (despite an adequate amount of sleep), sensitivity to changes in the weather, dizziness, irritability, headaches, and sometimes aching joints and a lack of drive are the most common. And, if you add allergies and the full array of respiratory issues, this would accurately describe me. So, now I’m thinking if this is spring fever, why are we so excited about it?
In my attempt to reconcile the definition and symptoms—the energy and vitality I should be experiencing with the heaviness of the ailments I am living with—the answer came to me as glanced at the activity taking place in my yard. I thought about the energy it must take for a plant to break through the recently frozen ground. The weariness of pushing upward and the irritability of its tender shoots against the earth. The dizziness it must feel as it attempts to follow the sun as its guide on cloudy days. No matter what, to live the plant must continue to push and stretch until it breaks through.
So, even though I will probably have this sinus headache for a while longer, I am beginning to embrace these symptoms as a sign not of spring fever but new life. And, over these last three days, it is clear there would be no resurrection without the cross and grave. Alleluia!
No matter the symptoms, new life feels better already.
Valora Starr is director for discipleship.
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Photo by Linda Post Bushkofsky. Used with permission.