Spring comes in spits and sputters. A beautiful sun-basted day is followed by howling northwest wind, followed by snow/rain, followed by south wind, leading to a beautiful sun-basted day.

Winter is slow to let go its grip.

March can be unsure of its season. But it is April. Spring will win out.

So much is going on out our doors. A green tint slowly colors the Earth. There are chirps and calls of birds we haven’t heard for months. They are returning from winter homes.

Welcome back!

I lifted a stone and hundreds of ants scurried about, unsure why their dark workspace was suddenly lit up. I’m not sure what they are doing, but they’re busy doing it.

One can scale up those ants and imagine looking down on human beings. We, too, will be scurrying to complete our tasks. I suppose if you live in an apartment, you might not have a lengthy list of tasks stuck to the fridge. But if you have a yard, there are multitudinous things to do. If you have a farm, it’s doubly or triply so.

If you are a farmer, you can add work to do in the fields to those chores of house and yard. The opportunity to plant a crop will be soon. That “opportunity” can be short some years. If you’re lucky, you have a couple of weeks. If the weather isn’t cooperative, it might be days.

For me it begins with waking up my tractors and equipment that were tucked in sheds all winter. First step after opening the shed door is to check tires for any that gave up air during the cold days. Next is charging batteries, turning the key, and hoping for the best.

You don’t always get the best. Batteries, fuel lines, and carburetors all have to be on the same side. One day last week, I got my old Farmall 400, my old IH 560, our 4-wheeler, and the lawn mower all to start. That never happens. It was akin to a miracle. I found myself looking around for something bad to happen.

Absent the cold that is behind us and the mosquitoes and humidity that are ahead of us, spring days outside are among the nicest days of our lives. At a certain age, one begins to appreciate that. There will not be an endless supply of these. I am now a certain age.

I will try to remember to say a tiny prayer of thanks on these lovely days. In a way, spring coming to the Earth is a waking up. It’s not exactly true that nature is asleep in the winter, but a comparison can be made to our slumber.

Since reaching that certain age, I say a brief prayer of thanks each morning upon waking. Giving thanks informs me that this new day is a gift. If it is a gift, I bear some responsibility to use it well.

I was going to write “use it wisely.” That might be asking a little much. I have occasionally unwise days. Perhaps “using it purposefully” should be the goal.

Continuing my comparison of spring to morning, I should use the growing season purposefully. When I reach the end of the day, it’s good to feel like I made the best of it. When I reach November and the end of the growing season, same thing.

An interesting part of spring is that Easter comes in here somewhere. For believers, they are inexorably linked. The odd thing is Easter can be as early as March 22 and as late as April 25.

I remember Easters when I was hiding Easter eggs in the snow. It made them easy to find. Then, there were Easters I hid eggs in greening bushes and tulips. Regardless, Easter is spring and spring is Easter.

I have a friend who complained that the date for Easter moves around. “Why can’t it be like Christmas? Christmas doesn’t move around. We should just pick a day for Easter.”

I looked it up and Easter’s date is “determined by the first Sunday following the first ecclesiastical full moon on or after the vernal equinox.” I’m not sure that satisfies my friend. I just count it among those many things I don’t understand and don’t need to.

We often hear Jesus is the reason for the season at Christmas. Of course, the same is true of Easter. The events we remember and honor during Holy Week are part and parcel to why we are Christians. It is a hard story as we make our way to the cross on Good Friday. It is a joyous story on Easter morning.

The Book of John was in my reading this week. Chapter 1, verses 1 to 5:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him there was not anything made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness has not overcome it.”

I’ve always liked that. It’s a powerful passage, but not a simple one to read. The Word and God and the light are almost interchangeable. We can’t go wrong seeking or orienting our life to any of those. Therein is Jesus.

As I write, it is Good Friday. John tells us there is darkness and it has not overcome the light. We trust that is true. But in time we measure on Earth, darkness has its moments. Jesus was crucified. Two thousand years later, there is heavy sadness in places like Gaza and Ukraine and now across the Mideast.

Life here is always a paradox. Imperfect people created by a perfect God.

But it is spring and it is Easter. Thank you God for this day and thank you God for this season. Blessed Easter to whoever is reading this.

— Randy Krzmarzick farms on the home place west of Sleepy Eye, where he lives with his wife, Pam.