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| A mild winter's day reveals patches of mud on the towpath along the C&0 Canal |
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| Bits of ice cling to the sides of the water-filled canal near Poolesville, Maryland |
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| Broad Run Trunk acts as a mirror, its smooth waters reflecting the nearby trees |
We've been trying to get out for hikes and take advantage of some of the sunny, nice days we've had this month. The C&0 Canal's towpath is beautiful, even in the midst of February. I especially love the reflections of the trees in the stillness of the water and the bits of ice encrusting the canal's shallows.
It's hard to know what to make of this February. It's not quite Spring yet. But we've had quite a number of springlike days. Can we trust that we're through with winter and that no late-winter snows are going to drown the crocuses, just as they dare to open their tender, purple blossoms to the chill, ever-warming air?
It's hard to know what to make of ourselves sometimes, too. We have the tendency to want to rush through these ever-lengthening days of not-quite-spring, not-quite-winter. But if we stop and look, really look, there are wonders even amid the gray landscape of our interiors.
Might we dare to believe that beneath the cold, self-blaming thoughts, grim fears, and dark forebodings of our most chilling imaginings, there might be a sort of Springtime of hope and newness and emergent life?
Every morning I sit in silence and practice clearing away whatever is keeping me from feeling healed and whole. Slowly, slowly, like the ice melting from the canal's edges, I feel a bit better, a bit more ready to honor who I am, the struggles I've been through, even the wintery patches of my journey. Perhaps, if I keep at it, I won't have to work so hard to know, that even as the muddy, barren towpath is beautiful, no matter the season, so am I, whether in full Springtime bloom, or still encased in the shadows of winter.
In fact, there is perfection in us all, regardless of what season we find ourselves in.
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