Winter's End

It seems like winter has lasted an exorbitant amount of time.

The darkness, the cold, the brown, the broken, the dead. 
It is an extremely long and difficult season.

Unless I embrace it for what it is; 
intentionally search for the beauty that lies within.

More recently, it seems that spring is beckoning. 

I can almost touch it, smell it, taste it.
I can almost hold it close.  

There are signs of light and warmth and new beginning and growth. 
It feels good.
It feels promising. 
It feels safe.

 

I don't know at all what spring has in store.
But I look back at winter, not in regret; only remembering what was.
I let go of the dead while storing the precious treasures I found there.
And I look forward to the joy of spring;
bringing those lessons with me, following the One that leads, believing winter has ended.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot;
a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build;
a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance;
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to search and a time to give up; a time to keep and a time to throw away;
a time to tear and a time to mend; a time to be silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.
~ Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8