It has been a long winter here in the Northland of Duluth. Many of the Sisters are eager for spring to arrive so that they can go outdoors and enjoy the sun on their face as they renew themselves in the greening of the earth. It was mildly amusing that, on the first official day of spring, it snowed. Days like yesterday and today, which have been filled with lots of snowfall, can be downright discouraging. The snow had been melting, and we could begin to see the grass underneath again. Now the ground and the trees and the rooftops are covered, once again, in a blanket of white.
In New Orleans, my hometown, we do not have changes of seasons as we do in Duluth. Spring and fall and winter weather is markedly different than in Duluth, and New Orleans summers command a great deal of respect from those who would live there. As I experience winter’s stronghold on the land and its refusal to back off and let spring be sprung here, my perspective is different.I, too, desire to walk outside without snow boots, to stroll through a field of daisies and lupine into the shady canopy of trees in the wood, to see the dapple of sunlight through the trees and to feel that wonderful mixture of sunshiny warmth and springtime coolness all at the same time. God is in each of those beautiful moments.
But as I sit at in my room and watch large, fat snowflakes drift down to the ground on the wind, I am also mindful that God is present there too. To me, the falling snow is a sacrament – a material, earthly experience that reveals something of Who God is. Each of those snowflakes is like God’s grace being showered down upon the earth. God is insistent, like the continuing snowfall.“I love you…I love you…I love you…don’t forget that…I love you.”It won’t be long before the snowflakes will melt into springtime waters that will baptize the soul of the earth and yield a harvest of new growth. It won’t be long before Lent is over and Easter will arrive and our souls will blossom before God in newness of life.God’s love is like that – transforming and life-giving. All we have to do is open ourselves to it, like the crocuses that demand to be born even through the snowy times of life.
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Sister Ann Marie WainrightSister Ann Marie Wainright is a Benedictine Sister of St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth, Minnesota. Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, she worked as a CPA for many years before earning dual masters degrees in counseling and pastoral studies. Sister Ann Marie is interested how people encounter God in their daily lives and how they use their faith and spirituality in meeting difficult challenges.See all of Sister Ann Marie’s blogs. |