the winter is past...mostly

My beloved speaks and says to me:
Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away;
for now the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines are in blossom.
Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away."
--Song of Solomon 2:10-13

Oh, how I love spring. It is my favorite time of year. I have memories of previous years where my soul was truly nourished with new birth as the flowers so depict to us during this time of year. Winter is usually a hard time for me as I am one of those people who have a bit of the seasonal blues. This year wasn't so bad, partly because of the greenhouse effect making it a lesser winter for us:( But mostly because I have have had such fun with India over these past several months. Even still, I do liken to the dramatic scene of spring where new life breaks through the hard packed "winter-weary soil" (as written by the midwives).
I thought of my friend Alison who lost her baby last year, and now she is 5 months pregnant. The depths of despair that she was in this time last year brought her to a darkness of the soul and a winters grief that would soon bring her to a place where she could decide to shrivel up in anger and a hope that was broken. But instead she chose life. As the coldness of winter brings the land to an appearance of death, there still lies hope. A dormant seed, and the potential for rebirth. This hope brought new life within Alison.
In the celebration of our Christ's death and resurrection, in the earths shift from sleep mode to vibrancy, in our own souls depths of depression moving towards spiritual growth and wholeness. I celebrate the "sacred process we share with the natural world: tender shoots of green hope push up through the dark earth, bulbs break open and leave their dried up casings behind, and buds awaken." (Midwives)