Front Porch Stories: SAD-ness slowly fading away
By KATHY BOHANNON, Special to The Coweta Shopper
I’m often amazed at how the hints of spring begins a refreshing of one’s soul. I’m in the crowd of those who suffer winter blues, and once I realized it’s a real thing, I began preparing, and of course, trying to avoid it.
Someone in their great wisdom gave it a name: Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD.
I love the month of March because the beginning of the month gives us hints of spring, and by the middle of the month I realize the promise. I can feel the “SAD”ness drifting away with every single hint of the new season.
The official “first day” of spring this year is March 20 for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. My “unofficial” first day of spring is the moment I can open my door, feel the warmth of the sun and see the pollen that has miraculously landed on everything, seemingly overnight.
It cheers me when I hear lawnmowers in the neighborhood. And it cheers me to see people strolling around, laughing and smiling, no longer bundled in layers against the cold, trying desperately to get out of the wind and freezing temperatures.
Last week there were birds chirping outside my bedroom window. Their songs promised spring was near. We had a few cold mornings after, but those birdsongs were already in my heart, and I knew the promise that those winter blues were on their way out.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV) tells us there is a time for everything: “(1) There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: (2) a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, (3) a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, (4) a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, (5) a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, (6) a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, (7) a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, (8) a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”
Spring brings about an awakening in my spirit and my soul. When I read those verses, I perceive them as a balance of life, planting and uprooting, healing, tearing down and building. I receive the “killing” as the necessity of hunting during the time the scripture was written. Weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing are on point with my transition from winter to spring. The environment we live in during cold months is dreary and for those of us affected with SAD, it can be unbearable.
But as sure as I am that winter is leaving, I know that God is bringing a beautiful and bountiful season ahead. I can tear down barriers that grieve me and build up for myself a better place of worship, a place I can thank God for protecting me, for giving me balance like only He can. That place might be walking every day. It might be in giving to others, or sharing my faith. I just know I want to follow His lead as I enter this new beautiful season.
Kathy Bohannon is a Christian speaker, freelance writer and humorist. She can be reached at
[email protected].
