I am rarely completely alone, but yesterday I went to pick
up pizza and found myself alone in the car.
I found myself talking to God – out loud with no inhibition. I suddenly realized how often I do that. The car is one place in my life that affords
complete isolation – one place where I can sing as loudly as I choose, say out
loud what is on my mind, and be completely transparent. And so, I do.
It is winter just as we all knew, but with a couple of weeks
of glorious misplaced spring-like temperatures and gorgeous sunshine we had
forgotten it was only February. It is
bleak and very cold. This week we had
rain, sleet, ice and snow. The trees are
still bare and there are no crocus spouting up through the half thawed layers
of icy snow left in the yard. But hope
springs eternal is what they say! And I
began to look around.
The first was the river that winds through our little town
dividing north and south. It rolls
merrily along and most of us don’t give it much thought. We daily come and go across the bridge and
vi-dock never looking left or right.
Today, I did…I looked left upstream from where the river flows and
watched as the meandering sticks and gentle current poured without anxiety
toward the lock below. I asked out loud
– “Where have you been and what have you seen, lazy river?” I looked right and
said, “Oh, there you go! Headed
downstream for more adventures and barely tipping your hat as you pass by!”
That sent my eyes on a discovery adventure. I began to look all around and be reminded of
the wintery beauty that exists on a cold and blustery day. The naked trees usually look lonely and
haunting, but on this day they were more like a work of art. The twists and turns of their gnarly branches
created interest against the plain gray sky.
Although they are bare of their spring and summer glory, the squirrels
still call them “home” and the birds still find a perch. I am so glad that God’s plan for them
included a rest from their foliage burden and allows them to be free for a
season.
Everything is brown and gray. But what a great reminder that life is not
always sunshine and flowers and that it is ok.
Even nature has moments that don’t appear so lovely and appealing, yet
it’s plight has purpose. It also is a
reminder of hope. Tomorrow will probably
be brown and gray, too – but there is another day coming and another season on
the way. The world will burst forth in
greens and blues and yellows soon enough – when it is time.
I have crossed the river and trekked past the open fields
where young calves (four of them) are staying close to their mothers and
waiting on warmer days when they can frolic and graze in the sunshine. The watering system in the crusty field
across the way gives a cold industrial look to the rows of empty mounds of dirt
where a corn crop or soy beans will cover the ground in a few short
months.
Yes, there is beauty where there is hope that is why we can
still smile and enjoy life when there is no sunshine. So I will choose to look differently today,
at the world covered with what I began thinking as “wintry hopelessness” – and
find not only hope, but also beauty.
