Change

Of winter's lifeless world each tree
Now seems a perfect part;
Yet each one holds summer's secret
Deep down within its heart.
~Charles G. Stater

It's been a while since I posted. So long, in fact, that I forgot my password. I haven't posted mostly because we're around and it feels like there's not much more to know about our lives than you already know. After living so far away, sometimes we feel a little overexposed when we're here (though not in a bad way).

Anyway, I just felt like posting tonight. I was doing dishes around 2:00 am and walked outside to dump the compost. This is an ordeal of putting on my boots and walking down some very icy steps, so I was bundled up and was ready for the cold. As I opened the door the warm air hit my cheeks and I stopped short. It reminded me of the time in The Long Winter when Laura wakes up to find that the cold no longer bites her cheek when her face is outside the covers. Her moment of sudden warmth came after 7 months of blizzards. Mine came after only a month and a half of winter, but it was no less welcome. I spent the next few minutes opening up the garage and the windows in the house which still held the chill of the last few weeks. I walked around outside for a bit and the roar of the warm winds sounded exactly like it had on Lake Michigan in July. I know that this rain and warmth will cause a lot of problems for people. I know that snow and cold are coming again in less than 48 hours, but for now I'm enjoying the sound of the dripping eaves and relief from dry, chapped hands. I think a lot of it is enjoyment of change. I've been pep-talking myself all winter into enjoying the beauty of the snow, and I really have enjoyed it more than I thought I could. God has taught me a lot about being content with exactly how things are right now; however, I still love change. I love the promise of better thing and warmer days and tonight the scent of the far distant spring fills the air.

O, wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? ~Percy Bysshe Shelley

Advent

THIS pretty much sums up our thoughts about this season...with nice graphics and music.

My Favorite Time of the Day

Lately, it's been after-lunch story time with Sam & Lydia. We are working our way through the REAL Pooh Stories. I adore these writings...just listen...

By the time it came to the edge of the Forest, the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, "There is no hurry. We shall get there some day." But all the little streams higher up in the Forest went this way and that, quickly, eagerly, having so much to find out before it was too late.

I envy the carefree energy of the stream and the peaceful steadiness of the river, with it's carefree nature of a different sort.

...and later...

(after being consoled by Piglet) Pooh began to feel a little more comfortable, because when you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed to very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.

I understand Pooh's vulnerability at having other people look at his thoughts. It all makes sense when it's inside. It's the getting it out that sometimes puts things out of order...at that point I wish I was more like the river.