Winter

Winter

The wind carries an antiseptic bite and also
the clicking sound of ice-coated branches.

A male cardinal calls,
"Birdy-birdy-birdy."
He flits like fire through the shimmering
glisten of his ink-drawn world.

Winter is not silent, still like death.
It is only a cleansing pause, the quiet season.

~~~~~Carol Bindel

Previously published in Chesapeake, a publication of the National League of American Pen Women, 1996; and again in "From The Front Porch," Spotlights #19, The Harford Poetry and Literary Society, 1997.

Quote: Rest

"During the initial stage of dormancy--called quiescence--the plant slows in response to environmental cues. If there is too much cold or nor enough light, a Douglas fir seedling will become quiescent, and cease its growth. But if those conditions change--a cold spring warms, a neighboring tree is cut down-- new buds will elongate and a second flush of growth will develop.

"But the second stage of dormancy--called rest -- is controlled from within. A seedling in the resting stage will not grow, no matter how favorable the environment. A warm January will not tempt it out; it heeds an inner clock, and emerges from dormancy only in the fullness of time, under the most deeply favorable conditions. This aids in the safe and healthy propagation of life."

—From Sabbath, "Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest," by Wayne Muller (Bantam Books, 1999)

How, then, do we balance our busy-ness with rest? How do you find time and space in your life for deep refreshment?