Tra-la, it’s May, and it’s a bit much

Everything bursts into bloom in the spring. The grass is greener, the bushes are bursting with color, and buttercups are popping up on the neighborhood lawns. It’s such a beautiful time of abundance.

Much as I love spring, though, I also find it to be tiring. May always seems to be the busiest month of the year. Even during a pandemic, there is so much happening in every facet of my life. During the next few weeks, I will be juggling, balancing, and dropping balls I cannot carry. There are not enough minutes in the day, not enough hours to accomplish the to-do lists of this hectic time. The end of the school year—both professionally and personally—requires so much.

Even as I look ahead to the quieter days that I believe will come with summer, though, I am trying not to simply wish away this time. I am well aware that there will be some distant day in the future where I am not as needed by everyone and everything around me—especially since I know our children will grow up and away. I remind myself that in many ways I thrive on being busy.

As much as I might long to have less on my plate, there’s also great purpose to these full days that are bursting—and even a bit overwhelming. There’s a beauty to seeing how I fit into an overall plan. And there are plenty of moments of joy even as the minutes and days fly by.

I have been wondering whether the apostles felt that way in the time after the Resurrection. Maybe they looked around and felt they had this enormous, extraordinary calling and were overwhelmed. Maybe they wondered how they could possibly spread Jesus’ message to every corner of the earth, how they could live up to the ideals He had taught them, and how they could discern the right path without Jesus immediately in their midst. Maybe they woke up some days and felt they could not possibly be everything they needed to be to everyone they would encounter that day.

Still, God gave them what they needed. They accomplished what Jesus had asked them to do.

And He does the same for each of us. He did today—and he will again tomorrow.

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