I can’t see across the road yet again for the blowing snow. It’s been like this for most of the winter. And so I share one of my favourite anecdotes with you that brings hope to long winter days.
“It’s amazing the way bulbs, the little balled-up plants with their slender roots, can hang out underground while the winter snow and sleet chills them to the core, and yet …
at the first sign of warmth there are the green shoots, acting as if nothing had ever happened, starting over.
The process reminds me of bad times. When you are in darkness, everything can seem quite hopeless – as if life will never be good again. The interesting thing about bulbs is that they actually need that cold darkness; they won’t grow without it. I can’t help but wonder whether bad times serve the same purpose for us – forcing us to bloom.”
Think about the “patience it takes to wait out the cold and the darkness that are necessary for spring blooming – both nature’s” and ours.
Published in the editorial of a magazine that is no longer in print, by Maria Rodale for Organic Style in 2005.
