I miss my fly!!!!

Today I came home from university and I waited for my fly to show up - but it didn't. I miss my fly!!

Well... maybe I should start with that super-sunny weather yesterday. I love snow but I don't like the cold and definitely dislike the short days, especially when they're also grey and rainy. I can't imagine that God ever intended it too bee like that. In fact I'm sure he didn't. In winter I'm actually waiting for 2 things: snow and spring. I love this picture because it combines both. I took it in our little garden in February 2006, just before I left for the States. This winter, we didn't really have snow yet, but I won't complain since I got my 5 snowflakes in supposedly good cold Germany on December 26th as a belated Christmas gift from above. Instead of snow, we already have the flowers out :) Yeah, and yesterday we had just great weather. I left my balcony door open so I could hear the wind and the birds outside. I crawled into my fleece sleeping bag, did my Portuguese homework on the couch and even thought about jumping into my hammock (yeah, the one in my profile pic), but I feared I would fall asleep in there. And then, all of a sudden, I had this fly buzzing around my head. Hey, the first fly of 2008!!! Spring isn't that far anymore! It seemed to follow me the rest of the day. Couch, desk, computer... it was always there. At some point it started to annoy me and I got my fly swat out, but somehow I just couldn't kill that poor fly. I mean I guess it was as happy about the great weather as I was. How could I punish that fly for enjoying the first really sunny day of 2008?

I know. Sometimes I have strange thoughts.
Today the weather wasn't that great. No sun. Thick clouds. And wind. So when I came home, I hoped my fly would greet me but it didn't. It had disappeared just like the sun and I actually was a little bit sad about it. It suddenly felt like it was - again - a long way to go till spring.
If I would have to pick a favourite season it definitely would be spring. I love the colors of fall, the snow in winter and the warm evenings in summer but spring is just the best. Everything is starting to live again. The forrest behind our house is turning from brownish-grey to green, the big cherry tree in front of my balcony is loaded with white blossoms, I get my bike out of the garage and can forget about that crazy bus schedule and the daysies start covering our lawn like a carpet. I love it! It amazes me how God created nature. Everything seems to die in fall - but there's still some live in that cherry tree!

Well, I could squeeze a hundred of "moral" lessons in that "fly-story" but I don't want to put more in it than there was to it when I was mourning about my fly. Sometimes it amazes me though how little things can be that either ruin or make our day. A rude comment, that not given encouragement, a broken cup, an annoying fly or a genuine hug, that prayer on the phone, 5 snow flakes and... a "spring fly" :) Yeah, sometimes it might be the very same thing that lets you smile at one point, but frustrates you even more some other day. There are people who are experts at that... We tend to call them difficult. And now I'm moralizing without initially wanting to, but maybe you can be a "spring fly" for somebody today. Or tomorrow if it's already too late. I want to challenge you and myself to not just buzz around your best friends. Try that "difficult jerk", too. He or she might get out her fly swat but if you ask God for help, he'll show you a way how to get through to that person, too.

Happy buzzing!
maria