Seeing the Potential–The Beauty of Possibilities
Lots of people like spring. Things are starting to get warmer and lighter. Winter is over, and summer and vacation season is getting closer. Things are starting to grow, and the world is waking up. However, much of that really only describes later spring. There is an odd space right at the beginning of spring where the beauty of snowy winters has disappeared and the plants and animals haven’t quite caught up with it yet. The trees are bare and the ground is muddy and brown. It isn’t much to look at, and it is still cold enough you have to bundle up to go outside for any amount of time. There isn’t a lot happening. I know people who really don’t love this part of the season. However, I love it a lot. The reason? It is simply brimming with potential!
This is the part of the season when you plan (or even start) what you are going to put in your garden. You start looking around the muddy flowerbeds and garden areas of your yard and dream about what will go there. The spring cleaning bug often bites and you start feeling like beautifying your space and getting rid of the old to make room for the new. Because there isn’t a lot going on at the moment, it feels like anything could happen in the future. It’s so fun to imagine what that could be like.
Potential and possibilities are some of my favorite words, because, as Anne Shirly (from Anne of Green Gables) would say, it gives so much scope for the imagination. It’s nice to finish a project, but sometimes, the very best part is the planning stage where you get to look at and dream about all the possibilities. It is sometimes fun to look at an empty space so you can imagine all the potential that it has. I mean, look at a seed. It is so tiny, and most seeds are rather plain, but they have so much potential. They have potential to grow and become something beautiful, or something tasty, or sometimes both. They have the possibility to grow and create more seeds. An entire forest can start from one tiny seed. So much potential!
Sometimes it isn’t easy to see something or someone’s potential, or all the possibilities that could come with something, but once you learn how to do that, it can make life so much more exciting and interesting. That is why I love the early part of spring. It is so full of possibilities and potential, there is no reason to find it boring.
What potential and possibilities can you find this time of year? What are your other favorite sources of potential and possibilities?