I have a new attitude, or perspective or perhaps even a new way of being in Winter. I put my big girl boots on and I get going. I’m not saying, “Woo Hoo! I love winter. Let’s have cold, frozen, frost and dark eternally. Yay – Ice.” But I am learning to embrace what I cannot control and make the most out of it.
I think I’ll start my new season of recreation (and blogging) with some beautiful words from Parker Palmer on the gifts of winter. These quotes were taken from his essay, “Winter” in the book, Let Your Life Speak. I pulled the most obvious quotes about literally getting through winter. The essay itself – the complete essay – is more powerful. Palmer uses much metaphor and analogy to draw connections between the physical cold and death of winter and life circumstance – while also illumine the gifts of the season. Parker Palmer is particularly adept at using metaphor and finding gifts in any situation. I think the words I selected will immediately appeal to outdoor enthusiasts and adventure seekers. On further inspection and perhaps even reading of the complete work, including the remaining essays, Spring, Summer and Autumn (starting w/ autumn) – I think the words speak to the soul seeker. The spiritual searcher.
Quotes from Winter:
“I am not sure that any sight or sound on earth is as exquisite as the hushed descent of a sky full of snow.”
“But for me, winter has an even greater gift to give. It comes when the sky is clear, the sun brilliant, the trees are bare, and first snow is yet to come. It is the gift of utter clarity. In winter, one can walk into woods that had been opaque with summer growth only a few months earlier and see the trees clearly, singly, and together, and see the ground they are rooted in.”
”Until we enter boldly into the fears we most want to avoid, those fears will dominate our lives. But when we walk directly into them – protected by the warm garb of friendship or inner discipline or spiritual guidance – we can learn what they have to teach us. Then we discover once again that the cycle of the seasons is trustworthy and life-giving, even in the most dismaying season of all.”
I didn’t come by this way of being out of choice. Who would choose death at a time of great expectation and tremendous hope!? I came by it out of necessity. And honestly, I am grateful for this gift – the gift of winter in my life. Through my own winter - somehow – by some force much greater than myself I was able to not just get through – chapped and chaffed and desperate for summer. Somehow I was able to ”enter boldly” into the darkness and emerge toward the light with a new way of being. A new clarity. A gift. Of a new me.
It surprises me. It makes me laugh at myself. Just today as I sat in my car, completely in awe of the magnificence of fresh snowfall all around me I considered how I formerly lamented. Bemoaned. Dragged on and dredged through winter. Desperate for summer. I stuck my arm out the window and scraped ice chunks off my rearview mirror and thought, ”Gorgeous Snow Storm.” My hand was surrounded by the warmth of my new scraper glove – a Christmas gift from my husband.
Here are some other thoughts on winter: http://www.couragerenewal.org/blog/103-parker-entries/242-the-wild-winds-of-winter
