The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring. ~Bern Williams
I don’t often find myself jealous of an animal, except on the frigid mornings my dog takes over my bed once I’ve gotten up to get ready for work and I see how peaceful and warm he looks all snuggled up in the blankets. There is though one animal that I envy, that would be the almighty hibernating bear. We think seniors have it made when they travel south for the winter, and head back north during the incredible Michigan summers. Unfortunately we are all beat by the luxurious amenity of being a bear and literally sleeping the winter away. Forget packing up the suitcases and heading south, just go into your cozy home, light a fire, eat yourself silly and then pass out for 4-5 months. No shoveling, ice storms, cold so drastic that your lungs feel paralyzed, no storm warning, just dreams… beautiful, glorious dreams!
The people who say “I will sleep when I am dead,” confuse me. How in the world do you not find sleep one of the greatest luxuries of this lifetime? So snuggly and warm, sleep is one of life’s most compassionate gifts to us. You had a bad day, a headache, a problem, just go to sleep and it’s like hitting the reset button when you wake up, it will be ok. I have thought about this a lot through the recent winter months where we’ve been blasted with one snowtastrophy after another. I do not work in a building where I park right next to the door, I walk about a mile to work with Jack Frost not just nibbling at my nose but basically beating me senseless with a bat! Winter has its whimsy, as the snowflakes literally dance to the ground but just like with anything we love there is also something we hate and for me that would be the bitter rotten cold. As I’ve grown older I am less able to shake off a blast of cool air, it goes straight to my bones and stays there until I dunk myself in a tank of boiling hot water, while drinking boiling hot water and visualizing the sun about three feet away, meanwhile outside the blizzard buries the house, my car and if I’m not careful the dog who is only just trying to relieve himself.
So how do those of us who endure winter every year survive? Simple, there is always the hope of spring. The only way to get through winter is to dream of spring’s lighter, warmer days. To watch the earth wake up, shake off and begin to live again.
Since we live among the seasons it’s natural that we would begin to follow the attitude of the seasons and springs attitude does seem very hopeful. It’s a new start, a let’s begin again type of feeling that flies through the air and straight into our hearts. We are reminded to grow, to bloom and to just simply believe for the best. Even though the earth knows that another winter is coming every year it continues to bloom and grow and produce. I am inspired by that thought. Life is much the same. We are not promised that hard times won’t come but something in us still keeps pressing on. We laugh, we grow, we love, we live, we keep on learning because life goes in cycles and we learn to follow its flow.
So just as nature is courageous enough to put itself back out there despite knowing it will once again face a harsh cold winter, we too need to find the courage in ourselves to grow and produce and live in such a way that honors the life we’ve been given.
