In a Zoom conversation with a friend and colleague, after a meeting Friday, we both lamented how done with the pandemic and winter we were. We had our first big snow in early December. In mid-February there is no let-up. Saturday trips in the chill air to a favorite restaurant  ameliorated the length of the winters. To bask in the hubbub of the convivial ambience warmed the soul. It seems a long time ago, another reality. We have lived with the pandemic for almost a year. We are socially malnourished. Our bodies have internalized physical distance. And it jars. Since at least Aristotle we have known we are social animals. We mourn the loss of proximity.

So my friend and I lamented together. I felt sorry for myself.

On Saturday morning I was cheered. A member of our spiritual community—our resident poet—posted a prayer:

Most Holy God

You have given us the full circle of the year

And we praise you today

For the gifts of winter 

Raising up our eyes

We bear witness to three things

The gentle pace of the sunrise

The softness of the first light

And the profound reach of the cold horizon

 

As these gifts of the Sky

Movement, sense, and depth

Are received by the Earth

May you nurture the same in our souls

© Eric (Kip) Williams, 2021

I was heartened—and perhaps a little ashamed of my pity party. Eric lifted my spirit and raised my eyes. He returned me to the beauty of life itself. The gentleness, softness and profundity of winter are gifts to be thankful for. Those who have room for God ascribe the gifts to God's goodness. But the gifts remain the same for everyone. Nature simply  is. And nature holds such beauty in every season.

The pandemic is, perhaps, another issue altogether. The likelihood is that after the pandemic we will be saddled with coronavirus as endemic for the foreseeable future. The excellent work of our scientists has given us vaccines that will protect many of us and reduce the virus's worst effects. Even so, the millions lost will not be returned to us. The stolen social goods of the last year will not be replaced. In a word we have suffered "loss." And as with all loss we grieve. And in all grief is anger, denial, pain and if we are lucky resolution somewhere down the line. We know that to pretend that loss is not loss leads to psychological dis-ease and disease. So, we must face the losses and work through them. But as with all loss we will surely get through this, and for that I am thankful.

I am aware that not everyone enjoys (or suffers) a New York winter. Even so, we all have our "winters." Perhaps even in these we might look for gentleness, softness ad profundity. It's all a matter of perspective.

The winter will likely last a couple more months; the pandemic longer. Truth is, we will get through it.

Oh, and Happy Valentines Day!

May you find love today,

+Ab. Andy