Staff writer
Is the earth turning faster on its axis these days? It seems like spring is going by way too fast, much like life, and it is hard just to get a look at all the beauty of the flowers before they are gone and replaced by something else.
Two weeks ago, I was looking for good spring pictures and found some beautiful red and orange tulips blooming beneath a wooden cross in front of Main Street Ministries in Hillsboro.
I almost did not stop to take the shot because it was not Easter yet, and I did not want to jump the gun on a really nice picture. Good thing I took the time to take a few clicks, though. By the following week, the tulips were done and it was the redbud trees down the street that were in full display.
If I had followed through with my hesitation to enjoy spring’s beauty at that time, I would have missed it.
While I am convinced that spring is zipping by extremely fast this year, I also know that life has picked up to warp-speed.
At a track meet last week, I enjoyed watching two little boys toddle up and down a grassy hill, landing happily in the mud at the bottom. It reminded me so much of my own older boys, now 22 and 20 years of age.
How could time have gone by so fast? I am so glad I took the time to enjoy them little when I had the chance. It was a sacrifice to quit my job and stay home as a full time mom, but one I will never regret. I find moments when we are all together especially poignant now, as they don’t happen all that frequently. I thoroughly enjoyed the Easter break when we had a chance to spend time as a family and extended family, together. I will treasure the beauty of those moments forever.
However, I wonder how much of it is flying by, never to be regained again. The interruption of a crop duster, spraying out pesticides on Easter Sunday, as we were out in Grandma’s garden enjoying the flowers and honeybees was especially sobering.
What are we doing to this earth that we have to spray on Easter Sunday? Is anyone else concerned about what is being killed beside bugs in the wheat?
And what about all the trees pulled from hedgerows, pushed into burn piles, and scraped from the face of the earth this past year in our county, in the name of more food production and government grant money?
I live, breath, and love agriculture, but I am really starting to wonder if we had better enjoy the beauty we see around us now, because the future may look something more like the past. Could we be setting ourselves up for another dust bowl with no more trees lining the fields? I wonder what kind of superbugs we are creating with all our pesticide overuse.
As far as I am concerned, I am going to make sure to take time to enjoy the beauty of the earth and the people I love around me. It is all flying by too quickly, and the destruction of the earth in the name of production is rapidly getting out of hand.