A time to wait

I received a gentle reminder this week that I needed to write another blog.  In fact the person said your followers will be disappointed if you don't soon write again.  No pressure!  So as I was driving I wondered what to write so I looked for inspiration as I drove to and from the parish.  The best inspiration was the snow covered prairies, clear blue skies and grain elevators in the distance.  It was a beautiful day! The fields look undisturbed, under a blanket of snow, awaiting the arrival of spring when new life will bud and grow once again.

I suppose like the fields many of us are waiting...waiting for winter to end and spring to arrive.  It seems about this time of year more and more people are heard to complain about being tired.  Tired of winter, snow, all of the clothes, boots, waiting for the car to heat, shoveling and the list can go on and on.  Winter seems longer than any other season and for many it is a time of waiting, waiting for the re-birth of spring. Spring, where once again we will find new promises, new hope.  Where we enjoy the emergence of the fields and the flowers and celebrate new life.  In the meantime we are in a period of waiting and we can choose to make the most of this time, allow it to blanket us so that we emerge in a new and better way or we can get buried under everything and emerge less enthusiastic and hopeful of what the future may hold.

The other thing that I have noticed this week is that people are very keen to point out how cold Winnipeg is in comparison to other areas of the country.  This has been done by asking a seemingly innocent question, "What's your temperature there today?"  The response in the negative numbers is given and the prompt reply was "oh, its 7 above here today!"  In the words of one of my friends on Facebook ..."bite me!"  Or the other response is to tell me the last time there was a snow fall...you know at least a month ago and that the grass is out.  No we do not have grass yet!  But hope springs eternal and winter will pass, the snow will melt and the temperature will increase.  Now it is waiting time.  Spring will come, new energy and purpose will be discovered.  And if we look long and hard around us we can discover the beauty even in the blanket of snow that covers all that is around us because after all spring always comes in nature and in life.