Weathering the Storms...

I've been watching the snow falling, the wind blowing, aware that
the temperature has been falling all day, and marveling that at this 
time yesterday, the thermometer outside the kitchen window read 
almost seventy degrees. Unbelievable...yet this is the oxymoronic
pattern our weather here in the Piedmont of North Carolina has
been following for the past several months. And my poor daffodils
which had bravely and brazenly begun to bloom are now bent in
seeming abject surrender to the assault of the elements today.

Just a few days ago, as I drove home from Charlotte, again on
a lovely, nearly balmy day, I was noticing the delicate green
which was creating a lovely aura around the previously-bare
and barren-looking trees which lined the highway...found
myself thinking that surely Spring was on its way, only to find
myself confronted by today's return to winter, as temporary
as it likely will be. 

All of which reminds me yet again of the strange and mostly
out-of-my-control nature of life in general. Oh, we like to
believe that we are the masters-or mistresses- off our fate...
that we can control the way our lives unfold. But like the
capricious Piedmont weather, life happens and we often have
little or nothing to do with the HOW or the WHY of it, finding
ourselves at the mercy of buffeting winds and threatening
storms which toss us here and there until we are bent over
like my precious, delicate daffodils. 

But I suspect that once the sun comes out tomorrow, as it is
supposed to do, those drooping blossoms will rally to stand
up again...perhaps not as straight or tall, but showing their
lovely yellow faces to all those passing by my yard. And that
is the choice we have...the choice of HOW we will respond to
what life sends our way...the choice of whether to stay bowed
and bent by life's buffeting or to lift our heads toward the warmth
and light and hope of the sun. 

Don't get me wrong...sometimes we just can't make it on our
own. Sometimes life's storms are just too fierce and we are
so damaged that recovery seems impossible, especially on
our own. But standing there in the sunlight are the people
who love us...the people who bring the light of Divine love and
hope to us in their very human flesh...God with skin on...
holding out a hand, enfolding us in a hug, wiping our tears, 
lifting us up until we can stand on our own. And for that...
for those who have been there for me, I can only say, 
Thanks be to God, and thank you, each and every one.