This morning, I had a hard time getting out of bed. Not because I was sleepy or tired, I was simply grumpy. And every time I sat up in bed, I was reminded by the view outside our window that spring had taken another step back. Yup, we had almost 4 inches of snow last night…on May 2.

And it was so tempting to let myself stay in bed and sulk the morning away, but I was hungry, so I dragged myself to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

I was also tempted to skip my morning reflection time. But as I splashed water on my face, I was hit with a thought: Why should I let the snow, which is from our Heavenly Father, be a stumbling block on my day?

I scrambled back to the bed, this time to do a quick search on my phone (isn’t technology wonderful?) to see if I could find a verse about snow coming from God.

Sure enough, here’s what I found:

And in that moment, I said a silent prayer for God to give me the strength to choose happiness, to choose joy, not only in the middle of this snowing May morning, but for the rest of this cold weekend, and for the rest of this wet spring. The rest of ever.

I admit my new-found cheer was a bit shaken when I looked outside and saw my precious tulips had taken a beating.

 

Hard to believe that yesterday they looked like this:

But I grabbed my scissors and commenced Operation Tulip Rescue. I snipped off the most damaged blooms in hopes of saving their beauty inside. A few minutes, ten cold fingers, and a couple near falls on the slippery wet snow later, here’s how my kitchen looked:

Who can be grumpy with a view like that?

Especially because after about an hour in the warm house, they opened up and really started to show their beauty.

A little while later, I checked on the rest of the tulips outside and they were all looking even more droopy than before so I gave in and snipped the rest of them off and carried them all inside.

After a few more minutes of arranging them, here’s what our kitchen looks like now:

Yup, it’s springtime in here, for sure. No matter how cold and snowy it is out there!

And while I was arranging the blooms in various jars and vases, I was struck with three main thoughts:

1. This is exactly why I save random glass jars and bottles. You never know when you might need a home for 30+ tulip blooms in one afternoon. Who says rinsing out wine bottles, beer bottles, pickle jars, and burned-out candles is a waste of time? Not this girl!

2. The Corona bottles made an adorable Cinco de Mayo themed tablescape.

 

How bright and cheerful is that? And so easy!

3. Our God is a great God, the ultimate creator, the ultimate provider.

So, there’s the lesson I learned on this very cold, very snowy spring Friday. Unfortunately, it seems it’s a lesson I’ve had to learn before, and I may have to learn again, but I’m still feeling blesses today.

Hopefully, I could spread a little cheer on to you guys, too.

And if not, just come visit my kitchen. I dare you to feel bummed out in there.

And I’ll leave you with a couple more shots of these beauties. Feel free to share any inspiration you’ve found lately. I’d love to know I’m not the only one who can struggle with choosing joy.