It was a long time ago, but I remember it well.

In an English class in high school, with Miss Glee’s guidance, we were studying William Shakespeare’s famous play, “Julius Caesar.” About the only thing I remember from that experience was a line in scene two, when the Soothsayer said to Caesar, “Beware the ides of March.” 

Those words, referring to March 15 in the old Roman calendar, were as they were spoken a reminder to Caesar that his life was in serious danger for something bad was about to happen. Since sitting in that class long ago, I have always remembered the ides of March and thought of them as an omen of something bad about to happen.

But the ides of March can mean more if we allow them to do so. The middle of the month, as the ides of March are here, and it has always meant something more to me. It is a good omen, a sign of something better to come. I truly believe as a good friend of mine wrote in a beautiful song, “Something good is about to happen.” I remember that many centuries ago one wise in the ways of nature wrote, “See, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth. The season of singing has come. The cooing of the doves is heard in the land. The fig tree forms it’s early fruit. The blossoming vines spread their fragrance.”

The world around us is rapidly changing and what a change it is. Laying aside the drab colors of winter it is becoming green, beautiful and alive. The cold and dreary days of winter are behind us. The days of spring, warm and pleasant, are here. And most of us are genuinely delighted.

But there is more. Not everything in life will be pleasant but we can be positive. We can live and believe something good is about to happen, and it will!

Howard Coop is a retired minister, author and religious columnist.