The spike in outdoor temperatures this weekend solicited fond memories and emotions that remind me that Spring will eventually return and bring with it all of its many pleasures. One of those is the promise of a new garden. Each year as the seed catalogs fill the mailbox with their colorful photos of the latest hybrids and discoveries, I always think that this is the year I will produce such results.

This is the role of Spring. It is promise. It is renewal. It signals new beginnings and new opportunities. It is the reward given in exchange for paying off the monthly installment plan called Winter. Spring, and the thought of it, feels better in climates that have a harsh season preceding it.

Back in November I made a conscious decision to not complain about the Nebraska cold this year, and I think I am reaping the benefits of that choice. Instead of putting my attention on the negative aspects of the season, I’ve tried to take a “glass half full” approach. Granted, when the mercury says minus 5, it’s hard to find something to lift the spirit, but at least I can say my truck started every time, and that I have a job indoors in front of a 500 degree bread oven.

Hope is priceless. We can’t live without it, and pity the person who has lost his bearings on it. The soul clamors for it. Our country voted for it. Like the old saying goes, Hope really does Spring Eternal.

We should always attach ourselves to Hope in every possible opportunity, and Spring is one of those Eternal conditions that makes the heart hopeful. It’s one of the reasons why I plant a garden every year, regardless of how busy I am, or how unlikely my tomatoes will look like the brilliant orbs on the seed packet. In it is the ritual of planning, preparing, and planting that lead to a reward of its own kind.

We still have February to get through, and March may still roar in like a lion, but the ground will eventually thaw, the daffodils will emerge and the little seeds you put in the damp dirt will do what Nature intended for them to do. Yes, they will germinate and burst into fruitful plants, but they also have the potential to grow into happiness.

If you let it.