Snowdrop

“Why does Mother Nature have to do this?” said my son, waking to another cold March morning. 

The winter has been cold, and the cold seems to linger into spring, causing the snowdrops—and the people—to wilt. The word “motivation” seems a long way off in this sort of vague, prolonged, ill-defined weather. 

Another thing that causes people to wilt: an ideal God. An ideal God is a cold God, detached from flesh and blood, from the world and humanity. A God of abstract “truth” does not know the daily cross of fledgeling snowdrops trying to push through layers of old ice-encrusted ways, struggling in order to grow and become. 

And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he lived in the wilderness. (Luke 1:80) Jesus, very far from abstract “good,” must be the earthbound snowdrop, growing while hidden away in the cold wilderness, until the right time comes.

Can I look at my time in hidden struggle and see the child of God growing in Spirit? Can I see my life infused with beauty, grace, love, and abundance—even in the cold?

When I wilt, Lord, may my Spirit grow and still push upward. Amen.

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Something Good This Way Comes! A good thing to remember in March.

A little medicine for the soul: some good Baroque.