I love spring! If you are here in MN with me your are saying “WHAT SPRING?!” as we look out a branches newly lined with snow and the promise of 1-3 more inches tomorrow. But there is something different in the air! The days are longer and even an overcast day that lasts nearly 12 hours feels a lot different than getting up in the dark and leaving work in the dark. Yes, inside I have an almost giddy sense of expectation. I am completely unphased by the forecast and eagerly watching for new birds and the first hints of open water in the little pond behind my house.

Why? Am I a Pollyanna, optimistically blind to the reality around me? No, I think it is more the faith that this current circumstance cannot withstand the reality of a tilting earth on it’s rotation around the sun and the warmer temps to come whether that is this week or next week or the week after that. It occurred to me that this perspective is true for many things. Faith that you can and will get through this while watching for signs of progress and wearing your boots in the meantime. It reminded me of something Jim Collins wrote in his book Good to Great about the Stockdale Paradox. Some of James Stockdale’s fellow prisoners hoped that by Christmas or Easter they would get out and when those came and went with no change in their situation, they eventually lost hope and died of a broken heart. Unlike our scientifically and historically based hope of spring, they had no idea when they would be set free as prisoners of war but Stockdale had an undeterred faith that he would survive and did everything he could to ensure he would.

The fresh snow piled up on my sidewalk waiting to be shoveled this morning seems a sharp contrast to the excitement I am nurturing about spring but it serves as a good illustration and reminder to ask myself this question, “Where in my life am I allowing my circumstances to determine my belief in the outcome?” I want to have a James Stockdale perspective that acknowledges and deals with my current reality be it economic conditions, relational challenges or health issues with the actions that can improve today (like wearing my boots!) and an unwavering faith that I will get through it. Eventually, my spring will come. So let’s live today with both optimism and action….a shovel in one hand and a flower vase in the other.