Winter: The Oldest and SNOW-iest Season

I love snow. I am such a Midwesterner, and also such a dork. December is my favorite month of the year. I don't even care about the freezing cold. The snow and the colors and the lights and decorations and snow are so beautiful to me. I love it so much!

I volunteer with Special Religious Education, a department of the Archdiocese of Chicago that serves children through adults who are unable to participate in mainstream religious education. We meet every week, and alternate adult prep sessions and our actual sessions with the kids. During the adult prep sessions, there is usually a literary selection we read to help us deepen our understanding of the theme we are reflecting on that week and sharing with the kids the following week. On November 29, our literary selection came from John O'Donohue's book Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom. It walked us through the seasons, and described winter as the oldest season:

"Winter is the oldest season. Winter was there from the very beginning. It reigned amidst the silence and bleakness of nature for hundreds of millions of years before vegetation."

He continues on to describe the remaining seasons: Spring's youthfulness, bringing forth promise, hope, possibility, and life. Summertime's sense of balance, bringing light, growth, arrival, a time when we fully blossom and can take risks because you've got enough support and shelter to protect and ground you. Autumn's harvest, when the fruits of the spring and summer are yielded and the great feast of the year can be had - when the things of the past and the experiences one has had now bring forth their fruit.

O'Donohue's description of the seasons reads as though describing humanity's life cycle, which I believe is the point. He references/compares it to the soul quite often. There are times when reading something like this would be depressing, but when we read it at SPRED, I was deeply touched. I completely identified with winter as the oldest season.

It's the time of year when everyone is just a bit more friendly, a bit more warm, a bit more joyful, a bit more understanding. It seems as though the older people get, the more they realize how unnecessary facades are. They become more open, accepting, and giving. So it is with winter, or at least the months of November and December when we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I can't think of much more to say about it than that - it was striking to me when we read it, meditated on it, and talked about it, so I wanted to share.

Enjoy the snow and cold and warmth and glow!