It’s cabin fever time of year in Kansas—late January, with its
gray skies, sniveling drizzle, and cold temperatures. The solution for people
who do not take a vow of stability is often to follow the sun to places with more
temperate climates and thus escape winter weather for a while.
Many people fail to see the benefits of stability. For
example, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart said, “A fellow of mediocre talent will remain
a mediocrity, whether he travels or not; but one of superior talent (which
without impiety I cannot deny that I possess) will go to seed if he always
remains in the same place.” I guess that means that monasteries are seedy places,
which is as it should be—places where the seed falls to the ground, dies, and
arises to new life.
Once I asked my Uncle Barney if he wanted to do any
traveling. “Heck, I haven’t even seen all of Doniphan County yet!” he replied.
He was a person of the seed too, being a farmer all his life. When you stay in
one place you learn its treasures, even in winter—that everything needs time to
rest, to just be in the darkness and silence until it’s time to burst into new
life.
Every day we have a little more light at the end of the day.
Spring is coming—but not yet. These are the days for hunkering down, for
experiencing the simplicity, the stark beauty, the calmness of winter. If we
try to rush through it, we’ll miss out on its blessings, even if they are not
the blessings we most desire.
I struggled for years getting sad starting in October in order to be truely depressed in time for winter. One year I began to feel better about winter (and me). Even though I am for a time away from home and hard winters I try to be accepting of all the seasons of life and see what happens. Great job ��
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your experience! I get a mild case of the SAD syndrome every winter, but getting in touch with the spirituality of the different seasons has been helpful. Blessings are everywhere if we keep an eye out for them.
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