All the beauty surrounding us these days in Minnesota--replete as nature is with the fresh greens of Spring and the wakening shoots from earth that soon will burst into bud, the Swedish hymn comes to mind, "Now Comes the Time for Flowers" (The Covenant Hymnal: A Worshipbook No. 646). Children all over Scandinavia sing it on the day of school closing each year, loving and anticipating their summer break. It is park of their cultural tradition.
The English text, translated some years ago by my brother Zenos, invites us to the same kind of celebration. "Come near, you summer hours, earth's grasses recreate," and "We hear the bird song ringing, a many-throated laud, shall not our tongues be singing our praise to Father God?" For the Christian, Spring is one more reminder of the divine reality out of which all blessings come, our Triune God at work!
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