The Problem of Spring


Spring arrived today. And we never doubted it would come, did we? Because it always comes. And yet, leaning into another bitter North wind in April, it’s easy to lose sight of this expectation. This evening as I walked through a park, listening to a chorus of frogs in a wet field that was deathly still a few short days ago, I marvelled at how quickly a barren, snow-covered landscape can come to life.

Life is often surprising. We often are too quick to expect and embrace pessimism and negativity. Richard Rohr reflects on his curious tendency in his book, Immortal Diamond:

We are not so at home with the resurrected form of things despite a yearly springtime, healings in our bodies, the ten thousand forms of newness in every event and every life. The death side of things grabs our imagination and fascinates us as fear and negativity always do, I am sad to say. We have to be taught how to look for anything infinite, positive, or good, which for some reason is much more difficult.

Though we seem drawn to negativity, life bursts at the seams of our families, neighbourhoods and our entire planet. Rohr continues:

We have spent centuries of philosophy trying to solve “the problem of evil,” yet I believe the much more confounding and astounding issue is “the problem of good.”  How do we account for so much gratuitous and sheer goodness in his world? Tackling this problem would achieve much better results.

This spring, as each of your senses become overwhelmed by the experience of spring-time life, may you wrestle with the problem of good, and find fresh hope and life in the midst of it.