Golden Spring Days
Every year I look forward to the first day of Spring. The days get longer, the weather starts getting warmer, and flowers begin to bloom…but this year has been unique to say the least. We have been met not only with local storms over the past to weeks, making for a gloomy March, but also with the somber spread of COVID-9 coronavirus internationally, effecting both the global population and our local day-to-day life drastically.
How do we approach new seasons when so much is unknown and uncertain? Today I’d like to share one of my favorite poems. In fact, when Nate and I had just started dating, a copy of this poem (which had been in Nate’s family for generations) was the very first gift he ever gave to me. It has soothed my uneasy spirit many times over the years and it seems wonderfully appropriate for this season. I hope you will be encouraged by its words below…
Two Golden Days
Here are two days of the week upon which and about which I never worry. To care-free days, kept sacredly free from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is yesterday. Yesterday, with all its cares and frets, with all its pains and aches, all its faults, it’s mistakes and blunders, has passed forever beyond the reach of my recall. I cannot undo an act that I wrought; I cannot unsay a word that I said on yesterday. All that it holds of my life, of wrongs, regret and sorrow, is in the hands of the Mighty Love that can bring honey out of the rock, and sweet waters out of the bitterest desert—the love that can make wrong things right, that can turn weeping into laughter, that can give beauty for ashes, the garment of praise for the spirit of happiness, joy of the morning for the woe of the night.
Save for the beautiful memories, sweet and tender, that linger like perfumes of roses in the heart of the day that is gone, I have nothing to do with yesterday. It was mine; it is God’s.
And the other day I do not worry about is tomorrow. Tomorrow with all its possible adversities, its burdens, its perils, its large promise and poor performance, its failures and mistakes, is as far beyond the reach of my mastery as its dead sister, yesterday. It is a day of God’s. Its sun will rise in roseate splendor, or behind a mask of weeping clouds. But it will rise. Until then, the same love and patience that hold yesterday and hold tomorrow shine with tender promise into the heart of today. I have no possession in that unborn day of grace. All else is in the safe keeping of the infinite. Love that holds for me the treasure of yesterday. The love that is higher than the stars, wider than the skies, deeper than the seas. Tomorrow – it is God’s day. It will be mine.
There is left for myself, then, but one day of the week – today. Any man can fight the battles of the day. Any woman can bear the burdens of just one day. Any man can resist the temptations of today. Oh friend, it is only when to the burdens and cares of today carefully measured out to us by the Infinite Wisdom and Might that gives with them the promise “As the day so shall thy strength be,” we willfully add the burdens of those two awful eternities – yesterday and tomorrow — such burdens as only the mighty God can sustain – that we break down. It isn’t the experience of today that drives me mad. It is the remorse for something that happened yesterday, the dread of what tomorrow may disclose.
These are God’s days. Leave them with him.
Therefore, I think, and I do and I journey but one day at a time. That is the easy day. That is man’s day. Nay, rather, that is our day – God’s and mine. And while faithfully and dutifully I run my course, and work my appointed task on that day of ours, God the Almighty and the all loving takes care of yesterday and tomorrow.
— R.J. Burdette
What beautiful and true words, I hope the images on the blog today reflect the freedom I find in those words. These pictures were captured at The Carrizo Plain which encompasses over 385 square miles. In fact, The Wilderness Society considered Carrizo Plain as a nominee of World Heritage Site status. Only two other locations in California - Redwood National Park and Yosemite National Park have received this status. So Carrizo feels like the perfect place to reflect on this poem as well as dance in the air, welcoming Spring even in the midst of this strange season.
As a side note, this often is a wonderfully secluded area and a perfect place for enjoying the outdoors, while following the current CDC recommended social distancing guidelines. If you’d like more information about this special place let me know in the comments. I think it might deserve its own blog post in the future. 😉
If you are looking for a quiet place to get outside in nature while still maintaining good social distancing practices as we live day-to-day moving through this new season of uncertainty with the coronavirus, I’m sharing a few of my favorite local spots below. These spots are often secluded and they might be a great option to get outdoors and explore without crowds.
Social Distancing Spots near Los Angeles
1. Corriganville Park - Simi Valley
2. Cave of Munits - San Fernando Valley
3. Oat Mountain - Chatsworth / Porter Ranch
4. Vanalden Cave - Tarzana
5. Red Rock Canyon State Park - Cantil
6. Vasquez Rock - Agua Dulce
7. Rancho Guadalupe Dunes Preserve - Guadalupe
So many things are shifting daily heading into this Spring season...all our local schools are canceling classes, my church is closing its doors for only the second time in its history, and my husband is now working from home (actually I’m not complaining about that last one 😉). I will continue to do as the poem so eloquently says and journey but one day at a time while God the Almighty and All-loving takes care of yesterday and tomorrow.
In Summary & Behind the Blog Video
That’s it for this week...God willing I’ll be back with a new adventure to share with you next week. Until then you can check out my behind the blog video below, and it is my deepest prayer that you find adventure and encouragement in this season and every season to come! Happy Monday friends!
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