the beauty of winter.

The month of January has come and gone in a flurry of snow days and sick days. 

Somehow what seems like the longest month of the year has already come and gone and February is upon us. January always proves challenging as we come off the holiday excitement and the freshness of the new year and then find sick days and snow delays and early dismissals and canceled school that tempts me to forgot all my resolutions and fresh hope and bury myself under a pile of blankets on the couch.

This January I have been trying to give myself more grace and receive the rest that comes with winter. I have been allowing myself to snuggle on the couch in the afternoon and read or even sleep. I am giving myself permission to write or paint or redecorate or anything else that I enjoy. Giving space for things that bring me life has been huge in fighting off the winter blahs that usually settles in about this time of year. Maybe that seems silly or basic to some but for me it has been huge.

I recently read something by one of my favorite musicians/artists, Melissa Helser, about winter...

"Savor the clarity that the winter brings. In her bareness she shows you all her secrets and in the spring she will clothe herself again--covering up her deep beauty."

I think the clarity of winter is in the natural and spiritual. Looking out my window across the white covered world of fields and meadows I can see fences, and neighboring farms and nearby developments that are completely hidden when everything is lush and green. The barrenness of the trees allows me to see things I couldn't see before.

The same is true in life. The quiet slower pace in winter when I allow it can bring new life and perspective and clarity. It shows me things I couldn't see in busier paced seasons. 

I want to rest in the beauty of winter.

So I know that in writing this I will be challenged on these very words. In a few minutes my kids will be scurrying in the door from an early dismissal and the "quiet and the beauty of winter" that I spoke of so highly will be threatened! But it is in these times together in our small house where beautiful and ugly moments mix that we grow and learn. I am learning a lot about parenting right now, some of the lessons coming through humbling moments where I have messed up and need to apologize and find better ways to communicate. I know some of the parenting moments come from the reality of spending more time together in a little house with high energy levels and winter boredom but I pray that some of the lessons would be clarity that would stay with me for the seasons to come.