Meditation for February 17th, 2016
False Springs
You wake up and get dressed, putting on long johns, layers of shirts and a heavy parka and walk outside to be greeted by the sun and almost a warm breeze. You walk down the sidewalk taking of the jacket and you see crocuses pushing through the snow. You smile to yourself because the long dark cold winter is finally over. You picture picnics, bike rides and hiking through evergreen forests in your near future.
The next day you walk out in a sweatshirt and no jacket with so much promise and hope on your heart only to be poured on by buckets of ice cold rain and the wind blows through your sweatshirt and chills you to your bone marrow. You immediately catch the worst cold of your life and give it to everyone in your family and at your work; even killing your boss’s grandma who caught pneumonia from the cold you gave her through your boss.
This helps us know that you are never truly out of the woods when dealing with life’s problems. We get false springs all the time. This is false hope. This is God’s way of testing our resolve by letting us believe we are okay, put down our defenses and start to actually like life before He knocks us down again.
Positive thinking is damaging to our sensitive lives. We must always believe that it is winter even if what we see isn’t. What we see is only an illusion and that life’s true sorrow and futile futures is just around the cherry blossoming corner.
Never believe the end of an argument with a loved one. Never believe the end of a hard time at work. Never believe you are healthy again after dealing with health issues. Never believe that you are through with your list of things to do. When you cross of the number one thing on your list, number two becomes number one.
So keep the rubber boots on and always be prepared for the worst. Just stomp on those crocuses as you ignore the signs of spring all around you. It even becomes winter in the middle of summer. Endless summers are for the rich.
Prayer
Dionysus,
God of wine, Spring harvest and mad rituals,
hear my cry!
I have journeyed through winter from the day the last leaf fell to earth.
I have trudged through impassable mountain passes and dug through snowdrifts.
I have felt the ice of Boreas blow through my bones.
Wolves have tracked me.
I have felt the calmness of winter’s death fall on me.
I now see sun and flowers and a valley so green.
Is it real?
Have I arrived to spring?
May I plant my crop?
May I find a mate?
No.
Winter continues.
You may not stay in this valley so green,
for it will be the very tomb you die in when the snow banks of these mountains avalanche.
You don’t deserve color or warmth.
You will see only grey and know cold.
These flowers are only reminders that life can be gentle and comfortable, but not for you mortal.
You don’t deserve stillness and peace.
Winter is your life.
Amen.
Craft
While it still continues to switch back and forth between winter and spring, don’t forget that you can still get your vegetable garden ready for the warmer months.
Right now it is a great time to plant broccoli, lettuces, tomatoes, dill, basil, oregano, chili peppers and onions.
This is also a good time to decorate your vegetable box.
String Tibetan prayer flags across the box to show your attunement with your spiritual side.
Bury a bicycle wheel halfway, so that people who walk by will know you are not only growing your own food, but you are a warrior of the environment.
stick a pink flamingo, lawn jockey or a gnome among your veggies. These are just still funny because old people like those things.
Goal
To never ever let down your guard a minute when you think things are going to be okay. They either are, but something else is about to happen or you are not done with what you are already going through. Don’t be angry, this is life. Life is constant warfare and surviving the elements.