New Beginnings

Winter is a time for pondering. Activity slows slightly following the New Year, and daylight is limited. Snow still brings it magical touch, and makes everything fresh, but the stirrings for something new will begin soon. The squirrel peering out from her home in the tree, surely can sense it. There will be a subtle shift in the wind, a slight alteration in the temperature, and a slow departure of the piles of white, all signaling change. A new beginning awaits us each Spring. The shift is often so slow, that it may appear as though Spring magically arrived one day. In order for Spring to begin, Winter must surrender its hold, and slowly or abruptly, but most surely, come to an end. God offers us much wisdom from which to draw through our natural world.

The wind has started to shift in my own life. There are signals all around, as some aspects end, and there is a hint of something new about to start. I have just ended a four year consulting contract that extended well beyond what I imagined. I have also just begun a new 2-year program to become a spiritual director that suddenly appeared, like Spring, almost without warning. Like the squirrel, I am sniffing the air, watching for further signs that a new beginning is in fact "on the horizon".

Endings and beginnings form the very fabric of our existence, our stories, our lives. The ending, either welcome or uninvited, is generally concrete. Once we have entered into a new beginning, although the end is not yet clear, the starting point has crystalized. The in-between transitions are what leave us looking for clues, reading the signals, and trying to discern what comes next and when. I am certain that something is in the air in my own life and really, in the world around me. I am now paying attention to the internal and external signals, trusting daylight will eventually extend, and will do my best to wait out the winter, as I discern just what that new beginning is.