Two Easter Crowns

Front Garden - South Jordan Utah

In the Spiritual Spring

"Several summers ago my children found two turtles and put them in the vegetable garden. During a thaw the next February, as I was digging up the soggy soil where the peas go, I lifted a heavy mound with my shovel, and then another. The two turtles had burrowed down for winter sleep, and I had rudely awakened them too soon. So I carried them to a corner of the garden where I would not disturb them and dug them in again. When my wife said that she feared the turtles might be dead, I said I did not think so... though I wasn't as sure as I sounded. I insisted that in spring they would come up. And they did in Easter week.”

~ Vigen Guroian

His essay struck me this time of year.  It is easy to imagine those solemn animals planting themselves each fall to rise again each spring...  like hyacinths and lilies; symbols of the resurrection.  In the fertile bed warmed by the sun, turtles germinate like great seeds.  It is difficult not to wonder at the eternity of life... no doubt, just like the women at the tomb did.  We truly are the perennials of God's creation.

“A bright new flower has appeared 

this day out of the tomb. 

Souls have blossomed 

and are adorned with divers hues,

and have become green with life.

The florescence of divine light has bloomed 

in the spiritual spring.”

~Armenian Ode for Eastertide