Winter Beauty

Our cold spell of arctic-like temperatures has ended, and the snow that has blanketed ground, rocks, and shrubs is starting to melt. While many people are rejoicing that today is predicted to hit 46 degrees, I am a bit sad.

I’ve delighted in clear, crisp days and star-besprent nights. Bundled in layers of down and wool, snowshoes or micro spikes on my feet, I have tramped the steep hills above the Hudson River most days, Lyska or Ramble gamboling through snow up to their chests or higher. On sunny days with little or no wind I could even sit on a bench and sketch. Those walks, sometimes first thing in the morning, sometimes at sunset, have nourished my soul and filled me with joy. I know I will enjoy warmer weather, too, but this winter has felt like a special gift for which I have thanked God every day.

These words from “A Song of Creation” in the Book of Common Prayer often come to mind and sometimes spill out in song as I walk and sketch the winter landscape:

Glorify the Lord, all you works of the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
In the firmament of his power, glorify the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.

Glorify the Lord, every shower of rain and fall of dew, *
all winds and fire and heat.
Winter and Summer, glorify the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.

Glorify the Lord, O chill and cold, *
drops of dew and flakes of snow
Frost and cold, ice and sleet, glorify the Lord, *
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.