The first day of spring has come and gone, the temps haven’t quite changed. The ice is not melting quickly, nor ground defrosting quickly. With so little snow, yet without open ground, it can seem a time of “non-interest” or “nothing to do.”
While downhill at Lutsen is available, other outdoor interests aren’t as appealing with snow crusty or sparse, as it is near Lake Superior. Snowmobiling, cross country skiing, snowshoeing seem less inviting. Road restrictions limit work; shoreline ice moves in to interfere with lake access. Hiking trails have enough ice to be, well, icy, and not much good for hiking. Bike trails have some firmness, but also ice; baseball diamonds aren’t fit for practice; golf courses need more time; gardens are frozen-in (except for indoor beginning plantings). We are in a season of pause. Things seem to have changed, with announcements of spring’s arrival, but change hasn’t really arrived.
Our expectations must adjust. So folks walk “in town” and on stretches of paved trail; there are “Cabin Fever Reliever Parties,” extra events at libraries and extra people at coffee shops. We are having another chance to navigate one of life’s in-between times. Spring doesn’t seem here, but we hear it is on the horizon.
But it turns out we can tell it’s on the horizon, can verify the course it travels, can announce to one another: “Spring is coming, is really coming ! YES ! Not far now!”
Why? Two minutes earlier sunrise, two minutes later sunset. 2 + 2 = 4 Minutes a Day. Oh I know. This varies. But technicalities at this point don’t seem to matter. 4 Minutes a Day sounds pretty good, for it helps us bridge the season that was and the season that comes. Monday-Friday = 20 Minutes. Seven days = almost a half-hour!
In the Jewish and Christian sacred literature, there is a book we call The Psalms. Poetry and conversation, God to poet, poet to God. God to people who’ve sung the words for thousands of years, and to anyone who picks up the book at any time.
This week, many Christian churches will include Psalm 31, verse 15. They will tune in to the poet who sings to God, “My times are in your hand.”
Addressing God, giving back to God, Creator, Source, the gift given us in the first place: “time.” Four minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes— minutes in which to say, to self and to God, “The sun continues to lengthen across the horizon, again this year. Your bounty continues to create and be the source of nourishment. Seasons change, warmth covers trail, road, face.”
In our life-paths, we cross good times, in-between times, hard-times. In all of them, we can say to God,
“When I weary, sustain me, stand together with me; my time is in your hands, 365 days x 24 hours x 60 minutes x all lifetimes, You give Spring, on all horizons.”
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month our contributor is Pastor Kris Garey, Trinity Lutheran Church, Hovland.
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