Article September 29, 2003 Issue

Spring thoughts from South Africa

By Sarah Jane Brokensha

AFTER MANY MONTHS of drought and cold, dry weather on our pig and flower farm in the subtropics, we have just heard the call of the iGwalagwala (Zulu for purple-crested lourie) among the fruit trees. Now we wait—just a little anxiously—for the liquid sounds of the rainbird and the showers that are so desperately needed to keep the animals and the fields anhuriums properly watered.

In our part of South Africa, we have crisp, golden—not red—autumns, relatively mild winters, and summers of unbridled sunlight and prolific plant growth. But spring is the time I love most.

I tackle the dust in our farmhouse, which has settled after months of dryness, and, like everyone else, reorganize my clothes, but I've been learning that it's the mental spring-cleaning that matters most. I ask myself whether I'm welcoming the purity, exhilaration, and vigor of God's love into every corner of my thinking. Have I removed enough gray, clenched winter thoughts to make space for new growth? And how am I doing as a mother and a wife? Does the family notice a vibrant, caring spring in my step?