Day 130
Sunday, January 8, 2023

https://kuc.org/wp-content/uploads/130-365.jpg

Scripture
‘Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail?’ says the Lord to Job out of the whirlwind. —Job 38: 22

Wisdom
Plants and animals don’t fight the winter; they don’t pretend it’s not happening and attempt to carry on living the same lives they lived in the summer. They prepare. They adapt. They perform extraordinary acts of metamorphosis to get them through. Wintering is a time of withdrawing from the world, maximizing scant resources, carrying out acts of brutal efficiency and vanishing from sight; but that’s where the transformation occurs. Winter is not the death of the life cycle, but its crucible. It’s a time for reflection and recuperation, for slow replenishment, for putting your house in order. Doing these deeply unfashionable things—slowing down, letting your spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting—is a radical act now, but it’s essential.  —Katherine May, Wintering

Prayer
Let the gift of winter circle round so that we might receive the gift of replenishment, a deep slowing down and lingering in your Spirit. Amen.  —The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster