Taking a Walk

I just took the best walk in my neighborhood that I've ever taken. (It wasn't just because I was sans kids.) I've walked it in cold, drizzling rain, intense wind (!), and heat. Spring, summer, fall, winter. Oh, and while I was in labor too. Let me tell you, my neighborhood is pretty boring. Just sidewalks, road, lamp posts and houses. That's what you get when you build a neighborhood out on the prairie. But today, well, it was different. It probably helped that our entire neighborhood is covered in glorious, beautiful snow.

Yes, we delightfully received about 12 inches of that white stuff in the past week. Maybe more, maybe less. But who's measuring anyway. There's a lot. It has shut down the city, maybe the whole state. I find it amusing. But I would being a northern girl. I'm hearty when it comes to snow and cold. I'm a miserable wimp when it comes to heat.

To me there is more to snow then just being wet, cold stuff. I find that it internally makes me focus, at times, on spiritual things. My mind shifted during my walking, from trivial to sacred. As I was seeing things that were so common to me blanketed in white my perception of them changed. What is covered changes. Our memory and vision is slightly altered.

Snow reminds me that there is power in change. In fresh starts or starting over. What is underneath could be good or bad. Beautiful or ugly. But what reveals itself when the snow leaves . . . well there is potential in that. Like the sight of spring greens poking through the ground.

I have that potential to change. To start fresh. I pondered on those things that in my life have become "idols" that have prevented me from reaching my spring growth.

We all need a cold, snowy walk sometimes. It's good for the soul.