The Greatest Show on Earth

Who doesn't love a great movie? Or concert? Or maybe a theater production? Some of these shows are so good you remember them for a lifetime. Still, there's nothing as amazing, as spellbinding, as reliably entertaining as the show nature treats us to - month after month, year after year.

While each season has something special to offer, my favorite is spring. There's nothing like the spectacle of the natural world waking up from its winter sleep and bursting forth in splendor.

One of the actors in the production staged in my yard is a lovely crab tree which stands outside my front door. A bit of a temperamental artist, it's not a reliable bloomer. Some years it's stunning; covered with white flowers, it almost seems to glow. Other times, though, it may only produce a handful of buds.

Fortunately, this spring another great performance is underway.

It catches my eye literally every time I walk by the front window. And since my office overlooks it, I find myself glancing outside every so often during the course of the day to admire its flowers. In years when the blooms are plentiful, you'll find me photographing it.

Knowing the display will only last a short while makes it that much more special. At the same time, of course, other trees also bloom, the rhododendron and other shrubs are flowering, all the trees are leafing out, tulips and daffodils lift their petals to the sky, and the lilacs are filled with buds...itching to get in on the action.

It's as if all of nature is shouting, "We are BACK!!!"

Every spring it's the same: one look outside the window and I'm in a good mood. Now Playing...(perhaps as close as your front yard)...The Greatest Show on Earth!

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Psalm 100:1

How's the "show" where you live?