This is an opinion column

The lessons of baseball and life begin in Spring – play by the rules, try your best, and the sun will still come up again if you lose.

Farmers keep pace with the changing seasons. The American food grower knows to bend with these changes, but they are sustained by the promises of Spring. As long as there is another Spring, there will be another chance.

Not bound by the set dates on the calendar, the remnants of winter are sometimes slow to go, but soon the sun’s warmth will grow stronger every day. Freshly planted seeds will respond, raising green flags of life.

Gardeners will go out and inspect these pale green sprigs, then over the following few days find reason to inspect them over and over again…it is just what gardeners do. It is part of the joy.

The same soft breezes that make curtains stand out a little when the windows are open, spray pollen though the flower beds, and across the corn fields, and onto all the cars, and porches, and yard furniture.

Yards are alive with singing birds, whose eggs nestled safely in their nests will soon erupt into feathery balls. Cattle following their well-worn trails will begin to have pink-tongued calves running along beside them.

The same sun that warms new life, tracks early age across our faces…one of the many equal opposites in nature.

I read once that God and man are at odds on order. Spring cleaning always reminds me of its truth.

There is a pleasure that comes with having everything in order, isn’t there? We all have a tendency to strive for it.

Order is when everything is in its place. When all the dishes are washed and stacked in their cabinets. When all of the laundry is not just washed and folded, but ironed and hung and all put away in their drawers and closets.

Order is when all of the beds are made and the throw pillows set at right angles. When there are no papers or books cluttering the living room.

It is when the floors are all swept and vacuumed and clean rugs wait at the front door to greet visitors.

It is when today`s supper is on the stove and tomorrow’s is planned.

A finishing touch is to go out and pick a couple of roses, or any of the many pink and yellow and lavender flowers blooming this time of year. The azaleas are blooming, wisteria, daffodils, and honey suckles.

Put the flowers in a vase in the center of your table on a lace doily, or maybe a hand-stitched linen cloth. Then stand back and enjoy the feeling.

Look at the flowers, smell them if you’d like. Then stroll through your orderly house. Enjoy it. Because it will last about half an hour before the first flower petal falls, or muddy feet run through the front door, or a call comes through and changes your plan of order.

It is easy to live with order. But that is not the challenge in this life. What life really asks from us, is that we contribute and grow even with the challenges and disorder life naturally brings.

Amanda Walker is a columnist and contributor with AL.com, The Birmingham News, Selma Times Journal, Thomasville Times, West Alabama Watchman, and Alabama Gazette. Contact her at [email protected] or at https://www.facebook.com/AmandaWalker.Columnist.