Spring

I was talking to my dad on Skype the other day.  He is stationed in Kirkuk, Iraq, with the Air Force.  I am so thankful that we have the technology that we do today so that I can hop on the computer and see him, thousands of miles away.  I miss him very much and it was hard for me when he told me he was being deployed. 

He is in the middle of a war zone.  We hear every day about the fighting, the suicide bombers, the car bombs, the fighting, the injuries, the deaths.  Occasionally, when I am on Skype with him, I can hear gunshots in the background.  He says it's almost a weekly occurance that they have mortal rounds explode on the base there. 

But this last week, I heard something interesting - birds chirping.  Of all the sounds I would expect to hear, birds was not one of them.  It was something that really struck me.  Especially with Easter this past Sunday.  It reminded me that even when life is hard, awful, even ugly, there is renewal.  In the darkness of winter and war, Spring and life returns.  Just as our Savior gave us eternal life and the ability to repent and return to Him after we have struggled through this life.

So, when life seems hard and impossible, I listen for birds.