Winter light

We can stop struggling against the winter darkness. In the past—before electricity—we would have stayed inside, lit candles and gone to bed earlier. We would have taken part in nature’s hibernation. Today we march to a human-made neon and halogen schedule. Try instead to go with the flow. To everything, after all, there is a season and a time and purpose.

So relish the winter darkness. The season has its own kind of light. A friend of mine who grew up in the country says that winter light comes in at a lower angle, so depending on the time of day, it hits you right at the eye—or—heart level. And when the full light returns in spring, you’ll be a part of it. Think of it as a torch being handed back and forth between you and the natural world.

This message is adapted from “Grasping for the Light” written by Clare La Plante in the March 2002 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine.