This morning, as I sit with Conan sleeping contentedly on my lap, I have chosen to keep the lights off so that I can gaze out at the blanket of white reflecting in my yard. The sky is aglow with the promise of new snow, it is a thick overlay of white against the pre-dawn sky with golden patches where streetlights stand. The dark silhouettes of the trees in stark contrast to the backdrop of opaque horizons.

It is hard to believe that our winter, with harsh and extreme cold temperatures these last few weeks, should now be rounding the bend and coming close to a time of ending again.

Even more difficult to believe is that in a few short months our world will be green again, filled with pesky dandelions that I would guess many Albertans would long to see at this moment in time. There will be no sign of winter, a memory of days gone by, as our world renews itself in the bright splendour of life springing forth from the land again.

It is the promise of renewal, a reminder that no matter how harsh the storms we are currently weathering, life is filled with promise of new life. Even our perennials that once seemed defeated by the snow and cold will burst forward with a show of strength, fortitude, and vibrant proof that life doesn’t just go on but it finds a way to thrive forward. The new seeds that will be planted, often coming from parts unknown in their little packets that we reach out for, bring hope and life anew where perhaps was once just dirt waiting to host new life, or now different life where we had to let go of our plants that bloomed brightly for us in a summer past.

This morning the image of a new bud bursting forth through rich soul warmed from the sun and made lush by gentle rain came to mind, and it brought me inspiration. No matter how deep, dark, long or cold winter may have been, new and beautiful life always waits to spring forth. And even as I wait to be able to see the black dirt with new stalks breaking through, first peaking out of the soil when you are not quite sure it is there, to suddenly magically being there, to growing and blooming in full glory, I am encouraged by our longer days as the earth tilts back towards the power of the sun.

May today each of you struggling with your own winter be inspired by the image of a fresh, vibrant green stalk defeating the cold and bursting through to great the sun be beautiful reminder of the strength and resilience within each and every one of us.

With love, Glenna