A Case for Winter

Peabody woke up this morning and peeked forlornly out the window into the early grey dawn.

Hey Mama, when dey gon' turn onna SNOW?

I hear you, Peabody. With only a few snowfalls that have left only a couple of vague, transparent traces of snow on the ground, this winter has been unusual to say the least. And the temperatures, although a bit more normal (frigid) these past few days, have stayed above average as well, making fall seem to go on and on, like a proud relay runner - with endurance to last two or three times as long as it's supposed to, but just too vain to hand the baton over to winter's final glory.

I'm not complaining. I feel so much like the fall that won't give up this year, and it's nice to have a reminder in the outside world of all that churns within me. Winter, though beautiful in her own way, has previously left me a bit frozen inside, from loneliness and dullness and even hopelessness. To me there's been a quality so incredibly bleak in the landscape of the winters here that a piece of me annually forgets or loses belief in the re-birth for which this very bleakness prepares the earth. Underneath winter's surface she's alive and growing and preparing to burst forth with beautiful new life and growth, but underneath mine I've lacked passion, drive, or desire to do the same in my own life.

This year, though, I feel different about the coming winter (and it will come). When I look deep within myself, I find that in place of the ominous dread of these desolate, isolated winter months glimmers a gentle anticipation of solitude and time for reflecting and nurturing my own thoughts and dreams. A season to tend the parts of me that, like roots beneath the ground in the coldest, darkest time of the year, still grow and soak up healthy nourishment so that they thrive, all in preparation for the buzzing, humming, blooming life that will burst forth above-ground as the sun warms and the days lengthen.

It appears that as I live out my years here, I learn better and better how to fill each season with a simple, organic contentment all its own. My yearnings and appetites have adapted and now respond in kind to the natural progression God has put into place. My response to winter now is to welcome a chance to slow down externally and live my internal life more deeply and thoughtfully for a time, feeding and restoring and preparing my soul for another full, active, lively spring and summer.

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