Everyone loves spring. It’s the season which awakens our senses with its exquisite colors, transporting fragrances, bird whistles, chirps and additional daylight. Spring’s breathtaking beauty doesn’t just elevate our mood, it restores our hope. Here’s how.

For kids hope is staring out a window and counting the days until summer. For teens hope asks, “Where will the girls be; where the boys will be?” For young adults hope wonders, “Where will I find my soul mate?” For middle age adults hope finds extra daylight after work and cleans up the St. Francis statue in the vegetable garden. For elder adults hope prays the next family gathering is a happy celebration.

However, it’s harder to feel hope when we have lost a loved one, our job, our home or our marriage. But, my Friends, do not despair. We can change our moods and circumstances. Yes, of course we must acknowledge our painful losses, but we must not believe we will always be this way; that we will never feel happy again. I’ve seen many difficult lives and situations change and sometimes even transform. Yes, my Friends, I have witnessed miracles.

I like to think that the hope of springtime is a companion of our pilgrim soul. Just as our garden needs tending, so does our soul which absolutely has the strength to heal, find comfort, and discover a new light of hope. So let us nourish our souls with the presence of loving, sensitive, and kind people. And let us remember to eat healthy food, exercise daily, and meditate on the line from St. Francis of Assisi’s prayer, “Where there is despair, hope.”

Yes, hope. I believe in it and clearly this gentle saint did, too. I have a statue of St. Francis in my garden.

It’s my favorite piece because it was a Mother’s Day gift from my children many years ago. Do you know it was said that when St. Francis died an exaltation of singing larks came down low and whirled about over his monk cell? My dear Friends let each of us be ready for the singing larks over our cells. Let each of us live our lives with hope. Let each of us make Every Day Matter.