Springing Forward

April is the cruellest month, breeding

Liliacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

Winter kept us warm, covering

Earth in a forgetful snow, feeding

A little life with dried tubers.

The meaning of first line in T. S. Elliot's well known poem "The Waste Land" perplexed me as we studied his work in High School. Why would April be the cruelest month? Aside from tax day and the fact that the weather flip-flops back and forth, playing with your emotions, April doesn't appear to be cruel. After all, who doesn't love spring?

However, April and the associated onset of spring is a time of change, and change can be difficult, cruel even. After laying dormant all winter long, covered by a blanket of status quo and getting by on good enough, spring is a chance to become renewed. It is a time to evaluate our lives, see where we are lacking, and make the change to become a new person, a new life, a liliac growing out of the dead ground.

I am ready to make some significant changes in my life including my physical well-being, and my spiritual closeness to my Savior. I am sure that it will be difficult, require more time and energy than I may feel I can give, but April showers really do bring beautiful May flowers.