Tag Archives: winter

For My Husband on His Birthday (or, of winter and waiting)

This winter lasts, but our time moves steadily from its first unfolding,
and we find ourselves in the already but not yet
of the journey.  Green plants push through dirt
beneath the frozen snow.  Sunlight shines through windows
covered with a long winter’s filmy grime.  We wait for warmth
and wait for wisdom.  We are in Easter’s Advent, praying, listening.
The cardinals have returned to the barren forsythia, looking, flitting
from branch to twig to ground, searching.

Perhaps we are a nesting pair, arriving, looking, searching,
putting all energy into choosing, collecting, building, and then,
hoping.  What will this next spring surprise us with?  A lush garden,
a field of wildflowers?  A new truth?

For now silence may fall with the snow
while we remain steadfast and full of hope.

A New Year Mantra for Lent

Three months removed from the start of the year, and embarking on the first week of Lent, it seems fitting to revisit our new year mantra (with a twist into first person):

Seek to bring out the good in those around me,
and I will find the best in myself.

How does this look manifested in our real and very daily lives?

Sometimes it is what we don’t do that creates change.  Seeking to bring out the good in others might best come by way of self-restraint.  Practicing silence, aside from many other benefits, can allow those around us to blossom.

These next weeks as we move toward Spring, let’s be patient, dig into the last of Winter, and embrace a kind of dormancy of speech.  May we be delighted by what we find growing all around us come Eastertime.