DEAD OF FEBRUARY
Life is most beautiful when studied in contrasts. Like roses in the snow.
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This month. Emblematic of love as deep as the Winter mornings of Idaho.
What blooms here is the starkness of white set against grey-on-grey skies.
This is February. The month of patience waning and of a questioning of “why on earth am I here” that still takes me by surprise.
To contend with the snow, I lace my boots and take the jeep for a drive, the journey to nowhere in particular is as much about a reckoning with the endless stirring within as it is a beckoning that whispers from the earth like a melancholy song.
To punctuate my study in contrasts, I invite Robert Plant to overcome me with a voice seemingly jarring to the quiet of the landscape, yet deep are both in their meaning and commitment to casting the question of why we, us humans, are here at all.
Some of you may have seen the image I posted of a cattle gate and the majesty of a stand of pines just beyond—as I drive in and through the stillness, I allow what is for me to call to me. This simple image did.
With intention of not keeping all that wondrous beauty to myself, I shared this snow-capped green iron gate on a North Idaho life page along with the words, “It snowed on my heart today and instead of cold, it's this kindred warmth that I feel.” I think that word, “kindred,” is most illuminating in context of what came next.
Gates. Doors. Windows. Perhaps it is the voyeur in me, or maybe the longing to be invited in that draws me to what I can only admire from a distance—
Appreciate without the need to touch.
Value without the need to own.
Love without the violation of boundaries.
To my heartbreak, the image comments took a turn. Rather than appreciating beauty for its own sake, those who know nothing of me, turned a sacred moment into commentary about keeping people out…specifically, Californians, of which [of course] I am one.
Rather than taking offense, the artist in me took pity on the loss. Such beauty. There for all of us. Punctuated by this fellow sojourner with loving intent.
How much we miss when our critical eye turns to criticism instead.
Have we forgotten to quiet the mind of its wanderings, and hear with our hearts first?—
I am reminded of great need for more poets than pundits,
for more of us to notice what is seen with fresh perspective.
Compelled by the belief that every moment is redeemable, I took another drive in this morning’s chill and brought the gate a splendid surprise—
Blush roses tied with a bow.
In this dead of February. In contrast to the ice and snow,
I laid my warm breath down to the cold of iron like a reckoning or a prayer and whispered—Just beyond you is a majesty made more interesting and enticing simply because you are there.
What we choose to accentuate is magnified. It was never about the gate after all.
The secrets to life, to every little thing, lie beyond the obvious. In the unexpected, dead of February.
NOTES:
Those silly comments, seemingly made without little thought invested, have me wondering how often we stop at the first presumption, cut off the thought before it has the opportunity to fully bloom?
We rush to so many conclusions, mostly because it’s so much easier that way.
Deep thought. MEANINGFUL conversation takes stamina and more than a little willingness to exercise the connection between the heart and the brain.
What if we were to challenge ourselves to believe the exact opposite of what is presupposed…
then to examine the territory that lies there, in that vast in between of reality and what we think we know?
It seems that we are more afraid of being proven wrong [even by our own selves] than we are of being eager to grow, to be edified.
Contrary to those focused on “keeping something out,” I believe the gate is inviting us to expand the view. And an open mind opens the heart.
How is your heart?
Our Creator loves nothing more than to redeem the hard moment. And I love nothing more than joining him in His work.
On this Sanctuary Saturday, and maybe every one of them after, commit to lacing up your hiking boots and going out for a long drive. My advise? Take a route you’ve never taken. Turn left instead of right. There are surprises waiting in the least expected territory that will awaken something dead or dorment—the artist, dreamer, creator, believer— within you.
Image Below—This is the image that caused so much contention. All that misplaced emotion forced the moderators of the North Idaho life photography page to take it down. How does it make you feel? Answer with your heart.
