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Posts from the ‘Winter’ Category

Mar 17

Spring Swinging

“Only those with tenacity can march forward in March.”― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

“The stormy March has come at last,
With winds and clouds and changing skies;
I hear the rushing of the blast
That through the snowy valley flies.”
― William C. Bryant

March push and pull.
50-degree temperature swings.
Softening earth.
Followed by 10 inches of snow.
Transformation under construction.
Preparing spring to burst with brilliant colors.
Join the dance.
Winter always yields to spring.
Time and timing.
Joy in the waiting, on each step of the journey.
Gratitude in, for, through all seasons.

“In March winter is holding back and spring is pulling forward. Something holds and something pulls inside of us too.”― Jean Hersey

Mar 15

Not Yet. Settle In.

“The pine stays green in winter… wisdom in hardship.” – Norman Douglas

“Winter is not a season, it’s an occupation.” – Sinclair Lewis

“Not yet.”
Said winter to spring.
“Soon.”
Said spring to winter.
The dance ensues.
Winter takes the lead back from spring.
Beauty and bounty in both.
Slow. Sunday. Settle in.
The call of Sabbath.
Making space, giving way, finding treasure.

“It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it.” – John Burroughs

Dec 21

2 Comments

Winter Solstice-ing

“May the light illuminate your hearts and shine in your life every day of the year. May everlasting peace be yours and upon our Earth.”― Eileen Anglin

“Don’t think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. It’s quiet, but the roots are down there riotous.” – Rumi

Shortest day.
Doorway, bridge, beginning.
Darkness tipping to light.
Releasing, melting, shedding.
In the process of things.
Slivers and slices.
Glimmers and graces.
Nothing falling into something.
Slowly. Suddenly. Surprisingly.
Open to embrace what enters when we are looking the other way.
May noticing be first and foremost.
Anchored in light.
Untethered in hope.
Walking with love.
Peace. Light. Joy.

“After the longest night, tomorrow we sing up the dawn. There is a rejoicing that, even in the darkest time, the sun is not vanquished. As of tomorrow, the days begin to get longer as the light of day grows. While the gentle winter sun slowly opens its eyes, let us all bring more light and compassion into the world. ”― Dacha Avelin

Dec 7

Rush of Stillness

“The whole world is beautiful, the art is in the seeing.”― Camille Pissarro

“The meaning of awe is to realize that life takes place under wide horizons, horizons that range beyond the span of an individual life or even the life of a nation, a generation, or an era. Awe enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine, to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple; to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal.” – Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man

Winter sunrise
Crisp air
Delayed by awe
Soft whisper, warm light
Invitation of wonder, pause, attention
Rush of stillness
Urgency of slowness
To see and hear anew
With clarity, gratitude, wonder

“TO LISTEN, TO LOOK Is it all sewn up—my life? Is it at this point so predictable, so orderly, so neat, so arranged, so right, that I don’t have time or space for listening for the rustle of angels’ wings or running to stables to see a baby? Could this be what he meant when he said Listen, those who have ears to hear… Look, those who have eyes to see? O God, give me the humbleness of those shepherds who saw in the cold December darkness the Coming of Light the Advent of Love!”— Ann Weems, Kneeling in Bethlehem

Dec 3

Spring of Winter

“All things are meltable, and replaceable. Not at this moment, but soon enough, we are lambs and we are leaves, and we are stars, and the shining, mysterious pond water itself.”― Mary Oliver, Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems

“And as with prayer, which is a dipping of oneself toward the light, there is a consequence of attentiveness to the grass itself, and the sky itself, and to the floating bird. I too leave the fret and enclosure of my own life. I too dip myself toward the immeasurable.”― Mary Oliver, Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems

Poetry of presence
Prayer in the pause
Dipping toward the light
Slow, soft, abiding
Sacred ground of today
In the spring of winter
Dipping into the immeasurable

“And I thought: I shall remember this all my life. The peril, the running, the howling of the dogs, the smothering. Then the happiness—of action, of leaping. Then the green sweetness of distance. And the trees: their thickness and their compassion, all around.”― Mary Oliver, Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems

Nov 29

The Gifts of Restoration

“Our mindsets shape our attention: by influencing what we believe winter fundamentally is–dreadful or delightful, boring or fascination–and what we expect winter to be like, our mindsets subconsciously orient us to one version of reality or another.”― Kari Leibowitz, How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days

“It is easy to mistake the fallowness of winter for wasted time and space. But this view obscures the necessity of winter for sustaining the whole cycle, dismissing how crucial dormant times are for the growth and beauty that comes later. It ignores the critical work being done under the surface. It pretends that we can all go nonstop, all the time, working and living and loving at full capacity, unceasingly. But we can’t, and there is much to be gained by not trying, and by gifting ourselves a season to restore.”― Kari Leibowitz, How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days

First snow, more on the way.
Invitation to slow.
To partake in wintering.
Pause and restoration.
Reflection and being still.
Unseen seen.
Remain in fully the present season.
Find and unwrap the gifts in each one.
Rush to this day, not through it.

“Those who appreciate winter generally orient toward the season’s wonders: coziness and gathering around a fire, crisp air and starry skies, slowed-down rituals and chance for rest. For people with this mindset, winter is not a limiting time of year to dread but a time full of opportunity to anticipate. In Norway, I learned that we are not condemned to waste the winter months, throwing away the season, wishing for spring. We can change our mindsets and, as a result, change our experience of winter–and of our lives.”― Kari Leibowitz, How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Day

Mar 31

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Not Done Yet, Soon, Not Yet

“I believe in kindness. Also in mischief. Also in singing, especially when singing is not necessarily prescribed.”― Mary Oliver

“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.” — Mary Oliver

From 70s to 30s
The dance of winter to spring
A few more inches of snow yesterday slowly falling, clinging to trees
Spring hit the snooze button
Not quite ready to wake up yet
Wet and heavy snow
Lingering a bit longer
Soon turning to nurturing water
The ingredients of greening, budding, awakening

When we try to rush seasons
We miss the final steps of the journey
On to the next thing
The snow, a gentle reminder to let winter finish wintering
Spring is getting ready to take the lead, in due time not our time
Remain in the present in observing, asking, listening to final chords of the song of this season

To be where we are right now fully engaged and awake
Our daily work, our daily bread
Finish the sentence before moving to the next chapter
Pay attention, be astonished, singing when not prescribed
Transition to transformation work, not to be rushed.

“Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.” – Mary Oliver

Mar 27

Springtime Advent

“Wonder. Go on and wonder.”― William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury

“Oremus

…Let us listen to the sound of breath in our bodies.

Let us listen to the sounds of our own voices, of our own names, of our own fears.
Let us name the harsh light and soft darkness that surround us…
The world is big, and wide, and wild and wonderful and wicked,
and our lives are murky, magnificent, malleable and full of meaning.

Oremus.
Let us pray.” – Pádraig Ó Tuama

To be here and now
Fully
In the mess, chaos and the beauty
The in betweens
Not winter but not spring
The advent time of spring
The brown sure to turn to green with April rain
Followed by the first bloom to break ground and burst into color
Anticipation. Reverence. Presence.
Springtime Christmas is coming soon
Outside and in
To walk with joy, delight, wonder
Especially in “the longer than we want” waiting seasons
The what’s next
The transitions that lead to transformation
Trust the process and go on and wonder in the meantime.

“The only place to begin is where I am, and whether by desire or disaster, I am here. My being here is not dependent on my recognition of the fact. I am here anyway. But it might help if I could learn to look around.”― Pádraig Ó Tuama, In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World

Dec 21

Inflection Point

“I need rituals that encourage me to embrace what is repetitive, ancient, and quiet. But what I crave is novelty and stimulation.”― Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life

“The winter solstice has always been special to me as a barren darkness that gives birth to a verdant future beyond imagination, a time of pain and withdrawal that produces something joyfully inconceivable, like a monarch butterfly masterfully extracting itself from the confines of its cocoon, bursting forth into unexpected glory.” – Gary Zukav

Longest day of darkness.
Tipping point.
The start of light returning slowly.
Wintering to prepare for spring.
Do not bypass, resist, reject the gift of winter.
To pause, to slow, to rest.
Depth of time.
Gravity of presence.
Seasons, cycles, circles.
Cocoon to butterfly.
Seed to bloom.
Sun rise, sun set.
Inflection point.
The word solstice comes from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still).
Stand still, new life unfolding.

“Both the Winter and the Summer Solstices are expressions of love. They show us the opposition of light and dark, expansion and contraction, that characterize our experiences in the Earth school so that we can recognize our options as we move through our lives.” – Gary Zukav

Dec 20

Solstice Eve

“I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief… For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.” – Wendell Berry

“We cannot stop the winter or the summer from coming. We cannot stop the spring or the fall or make them other than they are. They are gifts from the universe that we cannot refuse. But we can choose what we will contribute to life when each arrives.” – Gary Zukav

Winter solstice eve.
Hallway to the door of transition.
Dark to light.
Unfolding.
Slowly.
Softly.
Peace. Quiet. Light.

“The old and honorable idea of ‘vocation’ is simply that we each are called, by God, or by our gifts, or by our preference, to a kind of good work for which we are particularly fitted.” – Wendell Berry

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