Winter....again

Volunteer baby Datura

Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: 

Thou settlest the furrows thereof:

Thou makest it soft with showers: 

Thou blessest the springing thereof.

Psalm 65:10 [KJV]

In the last few days, new life has been springing up all over my yard.  My japonica and forsythia bushes are in full bloom, the daffodils are bright yellow, the baby green tips of my pink daylilies have broken through the ground.  Fat robins sit in the front yard and chatter at each other, and thirty rose hedge plants adorn my stoop – flourishing in the sun and the rain while waiting to be planted.

Into this idyllic scene drops the weatherman’s report of rain mixed with… excuse me?  Snow?  Temperatures will drop below freezing for the next three nights.  Suddenly I am scrambling for boxes to bring in the roses, hydrangeas, and other pots from the front porch.  Several nights of 29 degrees might be miserable for me, but it would be death to my beautiful flowers.

Human relationships are much the same – they thrive in the sunlight of kindness, the warmth of compassion and love.  Conversely, they shrivel in the bitter cold of a negative word or rebuff.  Someone may cross your path today desperately needing the gentleness of a smile, the empathy of a thoughtful word.  The weather may be frosty cold, but the warmth of a heart brimming with hope can begin the melting process within the soul.

O, wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

~Percy Shelley