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It’s the time of year that those of us who live in the Northeastern United States look forward to: Spring, which began on March 20. The roller coaster weather that we have experienced in Pittsburgh this past winter has not convinced me that it will not snow next week, or on Passover, which it has done in the past. But to feel the sun shining on your face brings me such joy. 

There are two paths one might take when thinking of the coming Spring:

• Hay fever; tree pollen; the deafening sounds of leaf blowers
• The slow greening of lawns; the bursting through the soil of daffodils and tulips; the blossoming of various trees; the bright yellow of forsythias and the reds, oranges and purples of azaleas.

I prefer the second path. Just as I have shared in the past the marvel of God’s paintbrush overseeing the change in the colors of leaves in the Fall, so too do I marvel at the grandeur of perennials. When combined with the increased frequency of a sunny day, how can this not uplift our mood and spirits? More and more birds return to my bird feeder that I hang on my lamppost, and I enjoy just sitting on the porch and watching them. Soon enough the deer will return, does with their fawns, of which we were privileged to have a family of three as permanent residents in our backyard for most of the summer. 

The orderly, cyclic calendar of nature demonstrates to me God’s presence, as it is certainly beyond humanity’s capacity to explain the continuous working nature of such a complex system. It’s not merely that our planet circles its sun every 365 days, and that in the Northeastern United States we experience four distinct seasons. The presence of this complex system is testimony that there is a greater power that made this possible: God. 

Might you be surprised to learn that there is a bracha recited, usually in the month of Nisan, expressing gratitude to God for the gifts of Spring? 

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁלֹּא חִסַּר בְּעוֹלָמוֹ כְּלוּם וּבָרָא בוֹ בְּרִיּוֹת טוֹבוֹת וְאִילָנוֹת טוֹבוֹת לֵהָנוֹת בָּהֶם בְּנֵי אָדָם.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe, Who has made nothing lacking in God’s world, and created in it goodly creatures and goodly trees to give mankind pleasure.

This bracha serves as a reminder that we are the beneficiaries of God’s creation and should never take it for granted. Taking a moment to express gratitude to God for the wonderful aspects of nature is one way to keep God in our lives. I invite you to keep this blog with you, and at the proper moment when your trees blossom, especially the magnificent magnolias, take a moment and recite this bracha. And take a moment to smell the roses, if the deer didn’t get to them first!