For many, winter is a time of postponed activity - and of shoveling snow, navigating ice, and trying to keep warm. What can easily be forgotten in winter's cold and occasional dreariness is that it can also be a time of shoring up, of purity, praise, delight, and play. In thirty stirring pieces - from translated Sanskrit and Hebrew poems to the writings of Henry David Thoreau, Jane Kenyon, John Updike, Kathleen Norris, and Annie Dillard - we share in the recognition of winter's hardships and celebrate the glory of winter as a spiritual gift - a quiet time in the rhythm of life, a time of thoughtfulness, and of unexpected hope. |
