Meditation for February 18th
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 off your jacket, and 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. You think the darkness is behind you.
The next day, you walk out in a sweatshirt and no jacket with so much promise and hope in your heart, only to be pelted 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. You return to soup and watch endless amounts of meaningless TV and pray that the darkness will give way to the light soon, or you might not be able to do it.
Between February and April, we get False Springs, a week where the promise of summer peeks at us and gives us so much hope, only to follow the next week with a winter tempest to crush that hope on the rocks.
This metaphor suggests that you are never truly out of the woods when facing life’s problems. We get false springs all the time. This is false hope. This is God’s way of testing our resolve: letting us believe we are okay, putting down our defenses, and actually starting to like life before He knocks us down again. Sprituality is always accepting suffering, never bathing in joy, for joy is the devil’s temptation. When we believe we are at a place of comfort, all the gods will start to conspire against us. They may even add to our good fortune to sweeten the fall, and then, when we feel contentment like we haven’t felt before, the gods pull that rug from under our feet and laugh as we fall into the abyss.
Positive thinking is damaging to our sensitive lives. When we begin using positive thinking to achieve our goals, we open ourselves to God’s wrath. We must always believe that it is winter even if what we see isn’t. Crocuses become sharpened bamboo shoots at the bottom of a pit trap. What we see is only an illusion, and that life’s true sorrow and futile futures are just around the cherry blossom corner.
Never believe the end of an argument with a loved one, for they will bring it up again to remind you that you aren’t on stable grounds with them. Never believe the end of a hard time at work, for work isn’t supposed to be fun; it is your way to earn a living. Never believe you are healthy again after dealing with health issues, for your body has been decaying since birth. Never believe that you are through with your list of things to do. When you cross off 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. The rest of us have to endure a forever darkness that crushes our souls.
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 at 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 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 is a great time to plant broccoli, lettuce, 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 also a warrior for the environment.
Stick a pink flamingo, lawn jockey, or a gnome among your veggies. These are still funny because old people like those things.
Goal
Never 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.