Minnesota is one of those places with four stark and distinct seasons. They are all God's of course, defined by things we don't yet control: The heat, the snow, the palette of leaves, and the green shoots of spring.
Yesterday, I was on the campus of St. Olaf, down in Northfield. The west side of the campus is a nature area, a pristine prairie with a single path. The trees are bare now, and it is cool on the verge of cold. The wind is slight and murmuring. All the world, this world, waits for that first snow to bring the stillness of advent, the holiness of of quiet.
The longer I am away from places with four seasons, the more I miss them. And the more I'm beginning to think that we're somehow hard-wired to NEED four seasons. I fill most alive, most energized, most creative in cold or cool air. Texas' eight months of unrelenting heat ... not so much. And yes, I've lived in places near the Canadian border, so I know from cold.
ReplyDeleteBob
I can always do without winter - brrrr... I just don't enjoy being cold
ReplyDeleteThe stillness before, “. . .the holiness of quiet,” is my comfort sought most. Born in a small town nestled in the mountain valleys of western British Columbia has seared into my memory God’s first white blanket of the season that gently covers all. . . everything that has been laid bare and exposed from the ‘seasons’ recently played out.
ReplyDeleteReal Plastic Snow Factory
When leaves have fallen, trees are bare
And the winds of November blow;
It’s time to string the outdoor lights
Looking forward to Christmas snow.
The factory and the elves at work
Will do their very best;
To ensure our Christmas is a special time,
A very merry fest.
For with the Holiday Snow they make
A white blanket can be laid down,
To lift the spirits and warm the hearts
Of everyone in out town.
–from 'The Christmas Village'
not yet published
Advent’s dawn, recalls my Christmas wish that each 'new tomorrow' can be embraced and lived enjoying the blessings offered within the entirety of a liturgical season – An Advent, a Christmas, a Lent, an Easter and a Pentecost. . .
I liked that.
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