This morning was as busy as most. I had been bustling around the house making piles of things I needed to bring into church…..magazines, soup, the bag with my computer, my purse. It didn’t help that I had slept in later than usual. Before I could make it to the office, I had several errands I needed to run for our Wednesday evening Lenten supper and gathering. I had made a couple of trips to load the car and was on my last exit out the door carrying a crock-pot of hot soup for tonight’s pot luck when I was greeted with a sound from the sky.

Overhead, flying quite low a gaggle of geese were making their way home. In their perfect ‘V’ formation they swept across the morning sky with spirit and intention. Nestled in the formation was one lone goose. It almost made the letter ‘A’ with its body! Only the sound of air being cut by wings echoed in the frosty blueness of the day. And then one single ‘Honk!’ I stopped in my tracks. My bustling came to a halt and I was royally chastised by this goose blessing. These beautiful winged signs of spring put me in my place simply by doing what they knew how to do: make their way toward home.

Immediately the Mary Oliver poem entitled ‘Wild Geese’ flitted through my mind.  Lines like:’You do not have to be good………Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-over and over announcing your place in the family of things.’ You see, in my pursuit to get all the things checked off my daily list, I had forgotten to be alive to the world, had forgotten to be awake to the sun glistening off the remaining icicles on the neighbors house. I had forgotten to notice the green grass emerging from under piles of dirty, tired snow. I had forgotten to be grateful for the gift of another precious day. I had forgotten my true home.

And then the geese flew over and jarred me out of my numbness. They blessed me with memory. As they used their inner resources to find their way home, they announced their place in the family of things. They also reminded me of mine.

And so the question has flown with me all day, does this mean that spring is really on its way?