I grew up in Michigan.  After over 30 years away, I’m now living in Michigan again … and it’s clear that some things remain unchanged. 

Well do I remember seeing the first robins in the spring as a boy, and how happy they made me!  Winter was passing; summer was on the way!

On the heels of a fairly rough winter, I spotted my first robin on our lawn this past week.  And once again the familiar joy filled me.

I wasn’t the only one to notice.  Some at church brought it up as well.  “I saw a robin!” one said.  “I did too!” replied another.  They clearly felt the same happiness.  Better days are coming!

The presence of robins has often been the focus of poems. Emily Dickinson wrote:

The robin is the one
That interrupts the morn
With hurried, few, express reports
When March is scarcely on.

 The robin is the one
That overflows the noon
With her cherubic quantity,
An April but begun.

William Allingham wrote about robins’ presence in late fall after other birds have fled to warmer climes.  With slight modification, the first verse of his poem, Robin Redbreast, also applies to their presence in late winter or early spring before other birds have returned:

Good-bye, good-bye to [Winter!]
For [Winter’s] nearly done;
The garden smiling faintly,
Cool breezes in the sun;
Our Thrushes now are silent,
Our Swallows flown away, —
But Robin’s here, in coat of brown,
With ruddy breast-knot gay.
Robin, Robin Redbreast,
O Robin dear!
Robin singing sweetly
In the [beginning] of the year.

Many believe that robins migrate south just like other birds – only leaving later and returning earlier.  According to birders, that is partially accurate.  Some robins do indeed fly to warmer areas and some don’t. However, all robins become more mobile in the winter months.

Those who remain north gather in flocks of hundreds or even thousands of birds.  Those flocks become nomadic, constantly moving in search of food.  Normally their diet focuses on worms and insects.  But in the cold months they transition from consuming protein-rich invertebrates to eating vitamin-rich winter fruits and berries provided by junipers, hollies, crabapples, and hawthorns.

Which birds fly south and which stay – and why – is undetermined by experts.  Gender may play a role, with males more likely to remain than females in northern areas. The possible reason?  It offers an obvious territorial advantage to the typically territorial birds, allowing those males early access to the best breeding grounds after the snow melts.  But even the male robins that fly south tend to return several weeks sooner than the females to claim their “space.”

Regardless of whether the robins we notice in our yards have returned from the south or wintered locally, when we see them we know summer is on the way.  And that brings us joy!

Currently, we are in the church season of Lent, when we remember all the torment and anguish Jesus endured to make holy atonement for our transgression and to secure our salvation. The season tends to be sobering – a time of repentance and reflection.  It’s a good and necessary time, but it’s also a bit bitter – rather like winter.

But better days are coming!  Easter is on the way!

Jesus’ resurrection always predominates every church season … every Sunday … every single day … for Christians.  But the morning we celebrate Jesus walking out of his tomb is like no other morning.  Easter is rather like spring.  It’s a time of new life, profound joy, and certain hope.  Consequently, it’s a morning of celebration.

Friends, the robins returning don’t only reassure us that spring is on the way.  They also remind us that Easter is too!  And that is cause for great joy.

“But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior …” (Micah 7:7).

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1 Peter 3
³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! 

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 

⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 

⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.