Winter is the season of nature’s restoration and renewal. This barren period actually strengthens the world of nature during long hours of darkness. Less light allows for a quiet resting of the land, vegetation, and creatures. What is quite amazing is that trees are already budding in wintertime. If you look closely at the terminal buds found at the end of branches, you won’t see the future life within their tight protection but it is hiding there. These buds are storing up energy that will enable them to open with warming sun and spring rain.
In the following prayer, I name the Holy One as our Strengthening Darkness, a presence of repose and restoration for when we need interior reinforcement.
O Strengthening Darkness, I trust you are with me in the dormant, winter seasons of my spirit.
Each morning when I awaken with light still hiding in the sleeve of winter’s night, I turn to you to receive assistance to meet the challenging requirements of the day.
Like terminal buds drawing strength from the roots of a wintered tree, I greet the darkest days of the year with confidence, trusting that the potency of your love will boost my resilience and strengthen my courage.
During this season when the hours of daylight are shortened, I remember the radiance of your divine light within me. The glistening stars in the darkened sky assure me of your presence even when I do not sense your nearness.
Winter darkness invites me to breathe in stillness, to rest in the arms of your silence. In this receptive posture you can deepen and enhance what is of greatest value within my spirit.
Strengthening Darkness, I am like the terminal buds on the tree of life, patiently waiting, trusting that my spiritual vitality is being reinforced during this dark season of rest. May these valued movements of the heart bolster my faith when I find life to be uncertain and ambiguous. Teach me to trust that darkness can be a source of growth. I will wait patiently until whatever seems buried in my spirit’s wintry repose awakens and unfurls with fortified stamina.
(From: Return to the Root, Joyce Rupp)
