Br-r-r, cold this early morning, but it’s early winter. We should have a cold night or two. Winter journeys are sometimes more difficult than the ones we make at other times of the year, and not just because of the cold. The refugees who have come from warmer climates are taken aback by the cold up here in the north. They need winter clothing, to be sure.
We’re also hungrier when the weather gets colder. We don’t hibernate like bears nor can we slow down our metabolism like the plateau pikas of Central Asia. It takes more energy to walk when it’s colder. Our journey is not like the refugees who were driven to the Polish border by a frustrated dictator.
Our journey in winter is a time to look into ourselves, to consider the choices we have made and can make for the future. It’s more of a time to make decisions than at the end of summer because winter makes us more of an indoor people, forcing us to see what is extraneous in our lives. Rather than thinking that our Advent journey is almost over, it is really just beginning.
Prayer for the Day
As we come closer to the day we celebrate the Nativity,
Let us examine how we welcome the birth of hope, O God;
As we approach the day of his coming into our lives,
Let us sift our hearts so particles of love fall like fine flour.
May your light shine into us like the early winter sun,
Crisp and opening us to a world of possibilities.
In the name of him who opens our hearts,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.
Martin Buber, philosopher (1878-1965)
It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
Ursula K. Le Guin, from The Left Hand of Darkness (1919-2018)
I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in
From this time on and forevermore.
Psalm 121: 1, 8