Winter...Time for Contemplation

Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it. -Thomas Merton

I have recently come to realize something about myself: For me, wintertime is a time for contemplation.

When I arrived back in Elkhart following my Christmas holidays I felt unsettled. I couldn't quite put my finger on it at first. Maybe it's just that I'm not ready for my holidays to be over or maybe I'm not really into any steady routine yet, I thought. The weather was very spring-like here compared to Manitoba and Saskatchwan, with temperatures ranging from -10C to +5C and no snow on the ground. Apparently that's quite typical here, and along with the mild temperatures come cloudy days. I was told when I first moved here that the sun goes away for winter - being so close to Lake Michigan, Elkhart is usually has cloud cover during the winter months with only a few days of sunshine.

The next week, though, the snow began to fall and the temperatures plummeted into the -20s. When it snows here it is very beautiful with huge snowflakes that fall straight down. With the colder temperatures also came the sunshine. As the ground went from a dull grey/brown to a sparkling white I noticed myself settle into my usual winter pattern, one that until now I didn't realize that I had. I felt this need to create my cocoon, to turn inward and reflect. I do this each winter, I discovered. Just as the seasons have their rhythms, so too does my spiritual life and wintertime, especially, is my time for contemplation.

Next week I am going to go on an overnight, self-guided spiritual retreat at The Hermitage, a retreat center in Michigan about 40 minutes north of here. I hope that it will be both a time of centering and contemplation.