Winter was a time feared, a time of darkness, a time of little sunlight and much cold. What fools we were!! What fools we are, when we still complain about it, knowing it is not right!
We are nearer the end than the beginning of winter, quickly forgetting that back when it started, the days ended a full hour earlier. We also forget that the "dead of winter" was, in fact, last year, since the season started in December, and that it was already following the cold and snow that brought us to a halt.
What do we have now? We have cool days, and rain and longer hours of sunlight. We have the promise of Life, spring, summer, ahead of us. We thought that autumn was ominous, that winter would be dark and dank, yet here we are: the monster that we had feared passed before we even heard it come! Instead of a gnarling beast with cavernous jaws we find a meowing kitten at our doorstep, shivering, craving Love.
Winter as a death-bringer is an illusion: most people can tell you when it is autumn, when spring, but few can place the beginning and end of winter accurately. Most confuse it, lengthening it, making it larger than life so that, in fact, it overlaps. Just like the shadow of Death is feared, when it should be simply allowed to go by. Just like pain and sorrow have a prelude of decay and a reemergence in the following generations. Just so, winter asks us to stay inside, to look after ourselves, to bundle up with our families and loved ones for protection, for warmth, for hope.
Winter came, has stayed, will be gone. Let it not leave us barren, but ready for growth.
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