February
…a month that means many different things to different people!
The winter season that February finds itself in is already 5-6 weeks along, and for some this can mean, “Oh God! There’s still at least 6-7 more weeks of cold, snow and ice” depending on where you live, and if you have an aversion to such a landscape. For others who relish the coming of winter and who have been honoring it since its debut in mid-December, it can mean, “I have ONLY 6-7more weeks to settle in to this season and celebrate its many gifts!!” What is your response as you turn your calendar to the month of February?
The social context we live in urges wrapping yourself around anything from observing Groundhog’s Day, to Super Bowl Sunday, to Valentine décor/cards and chocolate, to saluting the birthdays of Washington and Lincoln in the middle of a school vacation week. But some of us want to be more attuned to what the rest of this wonderful season of winter has to offer us, before another one takes its place.
It’s not too late when February dawns to imitate what is reflected outside our windows, especially in the northern climes. There is still time to do what the plant and animal world is doing; taking time to rest/settle/ burrow down/take care of my inner world.
Winter affords us the necessary quiet time of staying in in order to go deeper in. Winter gives us permission to sit inside by the fire and lose ourselves in a book, reading a paragraph, inverting the book on our lap, and digesting its message.
Sit Inside by the Fire…
Your soul needs at least a few days during this season where no clock governs your rhythm, where it shocks you to discover what time it actually is!! Only in those moments/hours does your soul get nourished by the absence of time, the tension of a schedule. Spiritually you are wasting time with God who can only be found in the deeper part of you, in the quiet, in the timelessness. And in return, you experience growth, an expansion of your ability to give, to love, to act justly. Plunging into our inner self, we are fed, and find we have more vitality to share with others.
February finds me carving out days with no expectations, simply time to sit and think and read and dream and imagine. I do confess though that when I turn the calendar page to February, I’m counting how many more days until I can put out my sap buckets and begin the annual ritual of making our own maple syrup in my kitchen. And this process too gives me days where I read/plan/muse as I WAIT for the sap to boil down, which literally adds up to many hours!
But this month also finds me experiencing a brisk walk OUTSIDE as well, quietly noticing the subtle ways God can be found in patterns that the drifting snow or the trails of frost make on the landscape. My grandchildren invite me to remember to have fun in the snow that winter brings, and yesterday one of my sons in law built an “igloo’ complete with firepit and smart TV, so we could watch a quarter of one of Sundays’ football games. The time spent in quiet contemplation indoors feeds us and gives us what we need to get out there and share memories with our friends and loved ones!
Todd’s Igloo
What are your practices during this month of February? Are you planning your spring garden? Do you enjoy long winter walks or snowshoeing, observing and really noticing how beautiful this plain, black and white season really is? Share with us how you live February!
I’ll be back in early March with more tidbits on living a seasoned life!
