On the Approach of Winter

Snapshots and excited Facebook posts from far-flung friends remind me that in many parts of the country early winter has made her presence known. By the time you read this, we may have awakened to our first real blanket of white beauty of the year. By the time you read this, we may have awakened to our first real blanket of white beauty of the year. There will be plenty of time for complaining about interminable grey days and icy weather later in the season…Right now it’s all about the coming of lovely soft white landscapes and that special silence a snow fall brings.

Some believe that silence is one of the most essential gifts of the winter season — a time to walk in the quiet of a snowfall or sit with a hot cup of tea and reflect on the important things, or perhaps very little things that we almost missed in the rush of warmer weather activity.

It’s been a difficult spring, summer and autumn to be sure. And we are nowhere near out of the woods yet. But as the weather gets colder and the night comes earlier, we might come to feel grateful at times for the silent moments. It’s a silence in which we can and should rest, a soothing silence wherein we can let the moments wander past without worrying about where they’re going, and perhaps our overly-strained nervous systems will find the quiet space to begin a bit of healing.

Perhaps at least once this winter, we’ll wake up to a morning of crystal ice-sickles and a blanket of pure white snow that nestles in tree branches and softens all that it touches. This year I will not be complaining – I’ll just be silently thinking ‘thank you.’