Star Magnolia in the cold of 3/4/21

The budding Star Magnolia outside our entrance door 3/7/21

Can you feel it? The days are getting longer and we are getting more light into our days. This week we are going to get a wave of spring warmth. I am feeling like I can breathe more deeply these days. The long deep winter of darkness and the heavy weight of the pandemic are receding a bit, not gone but receding. With the deep breathing of today, I can let the blue of the sky be a balm to my soul.

Have you noticed the buds on the Star Magnolia at the corner as we come out of the basement? (pictures above) It has pussy willow-like buds. They are like buds of hope breaking into the cold sky of today. Watch. I bet they break out into something new with the warmth of the upcoming week.

As a wise staff member said to me this morning, “Change is good”. With the opening of our campuses and opening to visitors and  family, how might we open to the change that the unfolding 2021 year will bring for us? We will still be dealing with the feelings of 2020 isolation and the loss of a year under the pandemic for sure. Can we hold the weariness and let the blue sky and the warmth of spring and the invitation to change be a hope for something different and just as real?

Oh Creator of the early bud,
Open our hearts and our very depths to your invitation,
Each day, each breath, an opportunity for change.
To let the outside in and the inside out.
To hold each other tenderly like a delicate bud
So that we may all blossom into ourselves more fully
And build a better world in the process of blossoming.
Amen.

Let the blue sky wrap you round and let its light help you blossom.

Warmly,

Michelle