Winter Wonderland: Thursday's Reflection

This is for all of you who escape to warmer temperatures in the winter time.

I want you to know it is still possible to go to the beach in the winter. In Minnesota. 























Bruce and I are just back from a few days at Grandview Lodge in northern Minnesota where, I admit, we spent more time in front of the fire reading and looking out on the beach than actually at the beach. We had a view of the white expanse of Gull Lake. Instead of surfers and swimmers, we saw the occasional snowmobile zip across the lake or a car heading out to an ice house. 

I love this time of year. Yes, I know it is cold, often terribly cold, and this has been one of those winters when the temperature has often been in the single digits or lower. And yes, I know it gets a bit wearisome to bundle up, layer over layer, and to clomp around in heavy boots. And yes, I know, I no longer need to worry about the icy roads in order to get to or from work. Those were stressful years. Now when we are in the midst of a snowstorm or the roads haven't yet been plowed, I have the luxury of staying right where I am.  

Because I am an introvert, a writer and a voracious reader, I don't get cabin fever. I don't mind the lack of light when I get up in the morning or how early it becomes dark in the evening. Wrapped in the darkness, I slow down and take a deep breath. I read one more page, say one more prayer, sit a few more minutes in meditation. I ease both into and out of the day, listening, paying attention to the rhythm of the day. 

In Minnesota many of our winter days are sunny, brilliantly so, and one imagines it might be sweater weather. In fact, as I write this on Wednesday it is 41 degrees out there, and I know mittens will be lost on the school playgrounds today, and teenagers will emerge in shorts and without jackets. Some of the crusty snow will melt and icicles will drip, but we aren't done yet. Snow is predicted later in the week, and I can stay in my cave. Yes!

Winter reminds me that I can choose to see beauty, and I can choose to find the goodness in the unfolding of a day. I can be present to what is, even if the weather changes my schedule, my plan. Life in each season reminds me how quickly time passes and how each of us evolves from one season of life to another. Winter days may not seem to pass quickly, but wasn't it just the New Year and now it is midFebruary, and soon it will be March and on and on it goes. 

Here's what I suggest--no matter what the weather is like where you live. Pause, inside or outside, and notice, just notice. Feel yourself in the presence of the day, the gift of this day. 

An Invitation
What did you notice? I would love to know. 

Bonus: Last weekend we went to see the snow and ice castles created near downtown Stillwater, MN --just for winter fun and beauty. Stillwater Ice Castle