I am staring out my bedroom window at a tree – a tree that less than a month ago was covered in bright red, beautiful leaves…but now appears as naked brown sticks. Empty. Fragile in the cold. The heavy branches are still beautiful in their own way, and I watch the lines trace up from the trunk reaching up and out toward the sky. But I know a secret about this tree…because I have seen this before. What is inside those branches is not death but life. A few months from now this same tree will spring forth with green leaves and provide shade for my family. The birds whose nest is so visible now will return to their well hidden home to create their own new life.
I have just come through a spiritual winter and am stepping into a new spring. The life is buzzing all around me now, but not long ago I felt empty and fragile too.
I have a secret for you too… There is still life inside you. Take a deep breath in and feel your lungs expand. You are still here, and someday you will feel full and whole and alive again. Someday you will be able to provide those around you with warmth and a place to come home to, and it will be so good. It will not be the same as it was, but it will be good.
In the next twenty five days, I hope to help stir some of that life up through songs, poetry, art, and the experiences of others.
Keep showing up, my friends. Even if showing up is all you can do right now, that is the first step…
Photo by Emanuel Hahn on Unsplash
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