Winter: An Addendum

O Lord, the black is deep and grows more opaque each time we turn our eyes skyward. The cold is sheer but firm, encasing us with each step. We plead for a thaw, but are met with a hard silence and unforgiving. Why do You permit the beast protection, a barrier against the chill, when we Your people must stand, naked and vulnerable, facing the merciless wind? Our tears turn crystalline before they ever leave our cheeks, and then shatter against the ground, coming to nothing. We refuse the season, beating back the darkness and denying the cold even as the rivers that surround us cease to flow. Even the mighty waters are powerless against the creeping frost, and we must accept the terror of what encircles us. We bury our dead, and feel as if we might lie in the ground beside them and not know the difference.

And yet, we find a voice to praise. We bless the deep silence of the snowdrifts, because they amplify the louder shout to come. We bless the dark, which has been and again will be pierced by a great light. We bless the dying of things, for we are told of a life that is everlasting and free of fear. We bless the season, and it is only that. Without a season of cold and dark and loss, we would not rejoice in the reversal of our fortunes, and the return of warmth. Rebirth comes about only by death, and we accept our fate as the seed that falls to the ground and dies. Resurrect us, Lord, as You resurrected Your Son, and though winter has scarred our hands with its griefs, we thrust them still to the sky, and revel in newness of life.

Song In My Head: "Desperado" - The Eagles - "Don't your feet get cold in the wintertime/The sky won't snow and the sun don't shine/It's hard to tell the nighttime from the day ..."