Winter
Nature’s wave has retreated into the earth, silenced by the snow and ice but still very much alive in it’s apparent slumber. Leaves danced to the forest floor for their final curtain call and the cold frosts forced the energy back into the roots…stored for reawakening and the joy of a distant yet certain Spring.
There are gifts in every season. Wisdom urges us to follow the flow so as to get in sync with nature and it’s offerings. Winter’s seeming silence and inactivity is necessary for the rhythm of life. Our wise Creator has made everything beautiful in it’s time. These truths resonate in my soul. Going with the flow is actually a God thing.
“There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.” Ecclesiastes 3:11
While hiking the mountain this morning observing nature in the ‘dead of Winter’ I asked God for direction on what He wanted me to focus on. When Max and I got to our sit spot I opened Streams in the Desert (my favorite devotional) and read this for the daily reading:
“There is no music during a musical rest, but the rest is part of the making of the music. In the melody of our life, the music is separated here and there by rests. During those rests, we foolishly believe we have come to the end of the song. God sends us times of forced leisure by allowing sickness, disappointed plans, and frustrated efforts. He brings a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives, and we lament that our voices must be silent. We grieve that our part is missing in the music that continually rises to the ear of our Creator. Yet how does a musician read the rest? He counts the break with unwavering precision and plays his next note with confidence, as if no pause were eer there. God does not write the music of our lives without a plan. Our part is to learn the tune and not be discouraged during the resets. They are not to be slurred over or omitted, nor used to destroy the melody or to change the key. If we will look up, God Himself will count the time for us.”
This Winter pause or rest, is being counted with PRECISION by our talented Conductor. In fact, without the rests in music the score would be nerve wracking and exhausting…confusing even if it is beautiful music. God is so wise and loving, He is into the details, I am amazed at the mystery of His perfect ways. As the Conductor He knows the score and we can trust Him to write the score of our lives using plenty of well timed rests that we need to embrace.
There are things to do in the Winter that we would never have time for in any other season. It is a season of waiting, a season of remembering the past and honoring it with the preserved harvest and a season of dreaming of the future by intentionally preparing for it.
The Winter Pause
Season of being still, reflecting, observing, noticing, waiting, envisioning, imagining, dreaming, listening, hibernating, resting, recuperating, remembering, pondering, regrouping, reading, writing, planning, surviving, enjoying the wildly prepared harvest from past growth…
1. Enjoying the Wildly Preserved – since the earth is not offering as many gifts in the ‘dead of Winter’ this is the time to relish the preserved harvest from last season. As Nature’s Wave rolls by with each season of wild offerings, it’s wise to preserve them at the height of their energy for year round use. Spending time pickling, fermenting, canning, dehydrating, jamming and jellying, blanching and freezing, drying leaves and flowers for stores of wild teas, extends abundance and wild blessings even through the Winter months. You can check out my video on Wild Food Storage here. Ride nature’s wave with me and I will show you what is on God’s Grocery store shelves in each season, how to gather it and how to prepare it. Here is a link to my class on Preserving the Wild Harvest.
2. Hiking Habit – find a path or a trail near you, on your land, at a nearby park and watch the trees, collect nature scraps (acorns, cones, twigs, anything that catches your attention), identify the seed skeletons of last year’s growth, observe animal tracks in the snow, watch and observe….everything! Hiking the same path day after day will help you pay close attention to the plants and trees as they morph with nature’s wave. Say ‘Good Morning’ to each tree, and plant, calling them by name to deepen your connection with each in all the seasons. It’s wonderful to have a several Hiking Habits – in a pasture, the woods, along the river, and of course your own back yard to discover ‘who’ likes to live in each eco system. Go outside in all weather to discover nature in all it’s forms. Hike your path in various times of day to see the casted shadows from the morning or late sun or to watch the sunrise.
I hope you enjoy these images. I cherish my time outside with Max during the winter months.
Sit Spot – this can be a park bench or a rocker on your porch, a boulder in the woods, or a tree you love to frequent. Go there every day, and just ‘be’. Nature has a way of stimulating all five of your senses with its many dimensions. I have many ‘sit spots’ but my favorite one is at in the loop of my Hiking Habit and is my destination for watching the sunrise, reading God’s Word, writing in my journal, praying, exercising, playing ball with Max, and always for the last 5 minutes I set my alarm and hold Max close and we just watch God’s handiwork. Sometimes we notice clouds float by, or shadows lengthen, or look for nuances and changes from day to day. And sometimes we just sit snug and listen. It is our habit no matter the weather.
Journal – I keep a journal in my backpack to record the gifts God gives me in His creation and to write the thoughts I have while just observing His handiwork. I also have many of these gifts ‘decorating’ our home and they all have a story. I will do an entire blog on some of my favorite gifts from God to me but just know that they are there all around, hidden in plain view. Ask the Lord for eyes to see and ears to hear, evidence of His love all around you and with in you. Then treasure these treasures and record them to ‘remember’.
In Quietness and rest is your strength
Poem
The following poem was written by a Wild Blessings student as her plant offering for our end of the year Plantasia party. Everyone brought a dish for our wild potluck and shared an offering from the heart. Lumini was a dancer in New York city for 10 years and her offering was not only in poem but inacted in dance. It was so astonishingly poignant and meaningful. This is only the Winter portion of her presentation but it captures this season with a depth of richness that I want you to relish. So much wisdom here.
Winter’s Interpretive Dance & Poem
by Lumini Merced
It will soon be winter.
The branches are bare, stark silhouettes against the sky.
The seeds have dispersed and landed in their winter resting places where they will survive the harsh cold.
The life force has descended down into the roots, which hold tenaciously to frozen rock and soil.
Oh trees, oh plants,
Teach me to welcome deep slumber and stillness, to slow down enough to really rest and rejuvenate.
Teach me to conserve my energy and resources, to honor the importance of hibernation.
Teach me to get down, to go deep, to focus on what is essential, what lies at the core of me.
Oh trees, oh plants,
Teach me to be at ease with death, the unknown, the mysteries which guide the cycles of life.
Teach me to be at peace with apparent nothingness and emptiness, even when I feel lost and I feel faint.
Teach me to remember the hidden and dormant seeds in me, the potentials in me, which remain unborne.
What I learn from winter
- In this season these activities are receptive a time of soaking in so that much can come forth Rhythms heart faithfully regularly beats we count on that, when it doesn’t work right Band or Orchestra watching conductor,Getting into the grove and into the sync.
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