I think we are all ready for spring. Actually at this point, I think we are all ready for warmer weather – who cares the name of the season – just bring on the sunshine! I know you can’t hear me, but trust me, I am screaming that last statement with every fiber of my being.
I really don’t mind the cold weather and even enjoy a good sled-riding snow once in awhile. It is the lack of the star at the center of our solar system not shining its rays down on me that I miss. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not looking for it to be hot. No thank you, I do not tolerate the heat well. But as far as the sun shining its rays down through a window, I may as well be baby Trixie from the Hi and Lois comic strip talking to Sunbeam, her ray of sunlight. I empathize with her disappointment when she realizes she can’t catch the sunbeam and keep it in a jar. Oh, gloomy winter days would be so much easier if we could just pull out our jar of lighted rays from our captured sun.
I was so excited to see the crocuses appearing out of what seemed like nowhere in our front flower bed; I thought it meant spring had sprung. The deep purple with the orange on the inside brightened my day and put an extra zip in my step every time I walked by them. I found it fascinating how at night or during extremely cold temperatures the petals would close up tight, hiding the inside completely only to open little by little to the warm greeting of the sun.
I can be like a crocus. I think many of us can be like a crocus. We close up and close shut when people or life circumstances are too cold, too uncomfortable, or too uninviting. We wait for the perfect circumstance or scenario to present itself first and then we will slowly open up, reveal ourselves. It is just easier, it is just safer.
Or at least that is what we think. I have always thought of myself as an open book-a transparent person. But I realize a lot of times I play it safe, waiting for the optimum temperature. I am learning to be vulnerable. Honestly, it takes courage.
Can you imagine a world where we aren’t waiting on something else to help us open up? Where we awake each day, no matter the circumstance, no matter the temperature and we freely share our inner beauty? And just as the crocus is a gift amidst the cold, dreary winter, our beauty would radiate to all around with a warm and welcoming glow.
How true