It’s March, and even without their colorful leaves, the maples still look majestic.

Mr. Masters is tapping the sugar maples this morning, and he invites us to grab a bucket and come along to help with this first step in the maple sugaring process.

It’s my first time on snowshoes, and the snow in the woods is still so deep I sink down knee-deep. I feel like Big Foot. Hiking through the woods is going to be harder than we imagined.

We reach the first tree, and Mr. Masters drills the hole and then taps it, connecting the hose to a 5-gallon bucket.

The sap isn’t running yet.

But with tomorrow’s high of 41 degrees, we are all hopeful it will be running soon.

The time to tap more trees is now, and tapping more trees means Mr. Masters needs help drilling and tapping and fetching buckets.

It’s a beautiful, warm day, and the maple miracles are coming soon.

So on and on we march through the deep, deep snow — waiting with great hope for all the goodness that is to come.

“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”

-Psalm 27:13-14