Wrapped up as we are in the advent of the meteorological spring, we may forget the birthday of a very famous musician:  Johannes Sebastian Bach.  It's fitting that Bach's birthday should accompany spring.  His music is replete with the sounds of singing birds, greening forests, and deeper skies.  It fits the season.  Fresh, bright, and resonant with joy, Bach's music echoes the wonder of the newly born creation.
     And regardless of how one sees the universe's origins (though the frequent reader no doubt knows my loyalties in this regard), we can all, I think, enjoy the coming of spring.  We all rejoice in its freshness and promise, its wondrous transformation of what we see.
     We all can also see ourselves as creatures of the spring, creatures with potential, actors and thespians (as Shakespeare said in As You Like It, "All the world is a stage") in a grand drama of existence, people who create and enjoy every day.
    We thank Bach for what he has shown us about life, death, and spring.  We also thank Bach for giving us a glimpse of the greater mystery of this vast, vast--and loved--universe in which we revel.
     So did Bach write on every piece of music he composed, "Soli Deo Gloria" (All Glory to God Alone).  Bach knew from whence all things come.
     Enjoy the music!