wednesday, January 31, 2024 Quote of the week

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

“And in the winter, I am underground. Home.”

Terry Tempest Williams

Winter used to be a menacing villain for me, so when friends and family, assuming I still feel this way, call to see if I’m doing okay, I’m able to tell them truly that I am. Mind you, I do not enjoy my shoulders hunched up into my ears while braving blustery winds, but I have learned to appreciate the time indoors.

All the other seasons of the year clamor for attention. Spring is the time for rebirth. Planting new flowers and trees, while daylilies and tulips pop up from the earth to show off their color as if they’re in spring’s fashion show! Summer brings the smell of fresh-cut grass, while sprinklers rhythmically pulsate water onto the yards. Bar-b-qs and outdoor concerts fill our calendars. Before too long, autumn’s leaves need to be raked as everyone holds onto the last days of outdoor gatherings. Winter, on the other hand, ushers in something entirely different.

I rise early in all the other seasons because there is always so much to do. However, in winter, I feel like a seed or a bulb snuggled deeply in the ground. As the soil does to the seedlings, Old Man Winter beckons me to stay inside, inviting rest and encouraging me to nurture my body and soul before it is time to bloom once more.

Instead, I linger over an extra cup of coffee, while gazing longingly at my nightstand where a mound of books patiently await. I contemplate organizing my house from the post-holiday merriment, maybe creating a new file for the impending tax season, or perhaps revising some school work for the remainder of the year. Of course there is always a list of to-dos around the house as well. So many options as I nestle indoors on these cold wintery days.

Just as the seasons are guaranteed to change, so are we as we go through our grieving. “Life meanders like a path through the woods," author Katherine May writes. “We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us.” May further states that, “given time, they will grow again.” Give yourself time.

Grief runs parallel to the seasons. Where there once stood the people we loved, they are now our memories. Love and relationships bloomed, they were nurtured, and then fell away. During our “wintering” time for grieving, take the time to nourish and heal after your losses. Rest, restore, and prepare to bloom.

The topography will be different, but like nature, we will adapt and discover our vibrancy…in time.

wednesday, January 17, 2024 Quote of the week

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.”

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

During my winter break, I noticed that my office window desperately needed washing. However, now that winter has forcefully blown in subzero temperatures, I think I might wait for a bit—like a couple months before I do!

One evening while writing, I noticed that the smudges were far more visible at night. The darkness from outside the window casted a different cloud exposing the streaks. When I turned on my office lamp, however, the smudges were not as obvious because the light was shining outward. Even though I knew the dirt was there, the light from within overpowered the grime. It was astounding for me to have witnessed this small miracle of how light and dark play into our lives. So which one wins? According to Cherokee legend, it is the one you feed.

Maya Angelou quoted that,“nothing can dim the light that shines from within.” Maya experienced horrendous events in her young life that could have permanently extinguished her light, but she chose strength, her light, to overcome them. Her light from within conquered her darkness. Dark represented who she was, and the light represented who she became because of it.

When we mourn for what we have lost or who is now gone from our lives, there is still a light that permeates out from us. As Elisabeth suggests in her quote, our own spirit, our own passion, and our own perseverance is our light amidst the dark times of our lives. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it,” as written in John 1:5. Our light can shine even brighter because of our grief.

As we grieve, feed the good and discover something meaningful and purposeful that reignites the light we all carry from within. We are beautiful designs of a miraculous and majestic creator. God is just waiting for us to flip on our eternal lamp once more. Although reignition is difficult, “whatever makes you uncomfortable,” Bryant McGill said, “is your biggest opportunity for growth.”

Give yourself permission to shine again.

wednesday, January 3, 2024 Quote of the week

“Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.”

Margaret Mead

Have you ever played on a teeter-totter? The memory might have jolted you just as your teeth did when playing! Two people take turns pushing one another up into the air. When one is in the air, the other is seated in a squat and preparing to push off to exchange places. When one is up, the other is down. In the greater scope, teeter-totters represent how our lives are led as well!

In the classroom of life, we are students but also teachers. A wonderful lesson was taught to me, and I don’t recollect who it was from. Perhaps it was the cascading advice of many people teaching me the same objective. Maybe it was even in film; I truly don’t know. However, the lesson is what resonates…I am not special. As a child, my parents taught me I was, and I reiterated that to my own children growing up, but I understand now that no one is immune to greatness or loss. There are no guarantees granted to any of us; we are here carrying out God’s mission in His time, so His plan overrides ours.

When I worked in banking a few lifetimes ago, my supervisor shared that she had lost her husband to cancer years before. She was left to raise her two little girls alone. I remember thinking how unfair that was. However, she was a woman of faith, and her response resounded much like the I am not special attitude. She could have settled with, why me? but instead she viewed it as, why NOT me?

Christopher Dwyer Ph.D. posted “You Are Not Special” in Psychology Today in January of 2023. In it, he writes that “yes, everyone is special in their own ways…They all have their unique combinations of characteristics. But, if everyone is special in their own unique way, then no one is actually special.” We are all uniquely designed to fulfill a purpose. Ephesians 2:10 captures the essence as it states, “For we are God’s masterpiece…so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.”

We are born for greatness! We house the capacity to manifest all our desires as long as they align with our purpose. We also accept the reciprocity of the ups and downs like that of a teeter-totter. Our journey here is imperfect, but it is also temporary. Our journey here is also sprinkled with lessons we learn and lessons we teach. Bless the people who accompany us along the way.

Just as the teeter-totter needs two people to play, so does the game of life.

Storylight A transformational journey SHARON M WIBLE

wednesday, January 31, 2024 Quote of the week

wednesday, January 17, 2024 Quote of the week

wednesday, January 3, 2024 Quote of the week

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