winter to spring: a Resurrection reflection

dear pretty white stuff on the ground,
your time is over and winter is done.
please go away till Christmas cheer,
we seriously need some warmth this year!


I awoke from a glorious dream about returning to England (beautiful, summery England), to find a cover of white upon the ground. Normally I would jump for joy that it had snowed during the night. But this morning my heart grew sad. Warmth will come, I am certain of it...the sunshine speaks of warmer days in its golden touch. (Also, Mom, if you read this, I am still thinking of Frederick!)

It is only March; there is much time left in this transition the northern hemisphere makes between winter and spring. I have never wished for summer like I am wishing right now. Winter is my favourite season, but that's only if there is lots of snow. Now, here at the season crossroads, all of my being longs for warm sunshine, fresh breezes, and the scent of flowering trees. With all the snow melted (well, most of it since it snowed again), one can truly see how barren the earth is beneath the cover of white.

This transition time is so perfect for the season of Lent, because it is during this time that we remember the transformation we have gone through as God's children and will go through when He takes us home. The cold winter strips away anything living and reveals the barrenness that mirrors our human souls, but the snow comes to cover the earth and make it white. Jesus came and took all our sins upon Him, covering us and making us white. We are still upon this earth, still broken sinners, but He has taken them from us. And then in the springtime all things begin to grow again, being fed by the warmth of the sun and water from the melting snow. Suddenly, sometimes overnight, the brown and gone and has been replaced and enhanced with riotous greenery. Spring has sprung! We are like the springtime in the Resurrection, because we too will be made new, having been washed by the blood of Christ. When we enter His kingdom, spring has sprung. And celebrating Easter, Resurrection Sunday, in the springtime is perfect.

A poor analogy for what will truly be the most glorious moment, but one that makes me smile. Being able to visualize (in a sense) our salvation is incredible. God created this world, so why shouldn't it reflect Him and His plan?

colour my world/a Lenten musing

The first three photos were taken in summer of 2011 (I think) at my family's home in Illinois. Currently,  I miss colour. The world is white and brown, which is beautiful of course, since we all know I adore snow. But February is nearing its end now; I find myself longing to see green buds on the trees and hear birds singing in those trees. We have another snowstorm coming; exciting as always. But as I page through my Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog and pick what I will grow this year, I wish I could open the windows and feel a warm breeze. Spring breezes have a certain scent to them. I don't mean the ones that smell of manure and farms! I mean the other ones, those that smell warm.

Lent is also upon us. We sang the hymn in that last picture both on Ash Wednesday and last Sunday. When Lent comes so early, it's a bit of a shock; we think of Easter as being in the springtime. And it will be -- it comes on the last day of March. Easter, that is. So perhaps Lent being so early isn't a bad thing. As winter holds on and spring struggles to break through, we can be reminded of our Lord and Savior's struggle with Satan and death and how He won, just like spring overcomes winter each and every year.

Yes, I love winter. I kind of hate summer. Autumn is awesome. But spring is a good time to be contemplative, and that's something I look forward to as the weather warms up.

musings no.5 [the coming of Lent and other things]

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" As Everything But A Children's Book


When I first had the idea, it seemed like it would be wonderful to write my senior project on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-glass and What Alice Found There. Now, I'm not so sure. Because of the very nature of the Alice books and the mystery surrounding their author, the criticism available is...extensive and entirely too varied, to say the least. And honestly, I don't enjoy much of the criticism, because I am a firm believer in not reading too deeply into a text. I suppose that you might argue that I should not be an English major, but I have learned much relating to literature in other ways during my college career. I simply do not appreciate every other critic I read implying that there was a romantic attachment/sexual relationship/what have you between the real Lewis Carroll and the real child-Alice. Charles Dodgson (Carroll's real name) and Alice Liddell (the "real" Alice) were friends, of course, but to be perfectly frank, not even history can tell us if their relationship was more than strictly proper between a child and a shy young man! Of course, the main problem I have with researching the character of Alice is that I rather despise feminist/gender criticism. Much (not all) of it is written by women who appear to have some severe issues with the male gender, and as I am most certainly not a feminist, this irks me exceedingly.

But I digress; I did choose to study the character of Alice in Carroll's books and how she has changed in adaptations throughout the last 150 years. And I have been reassured by a (small) number of critics who do not agree with the supposed relationship between Dodgson and Liddell. And having a legitimate excuse (reason!) to watch both Disney film versions a few times is quite nice.


The Coming of Lent: Ash Wednesday


Now that I have ranted about my senior seminar project, I turn to a more appealing topic to write on. The season of Lent is one of my favorite parts of the church year. Well, that is an unfair thing to say, since I love the whole church year and the solidarity I find in the repeating seasons and festivals. I wish more church denominations paid any attention at all to the church year; it bothers me greatly when people do not even know what Ash Wednesday is.

I love Lent for many reasons, some perhaps a bit superficial in the big picture. First, the altar cloths are purple; I like that, because it is a somber purple, but also symbolic of Jesus Christ's royalty. Second, I simply adore the Lenten hymns. I cannot describe the haunting and sorrowful melodies, the deep and rich lyrics of each one. And some of the hymns we still sing were being sung 1000 years ago! I do not want the empty "Christian" "praise and worship" songs of today; there are very few of them that truly proclaim our sinfulness and Christ's ultimate sacrifice! The point is not to try to give God our all, because the truth is that we cannot....

But I do not want to rant about contemporary Christian music right now. I will, however, leave you with a hymn that I can say is definitely a favorite, though I love the whole hymnal.


"Alleluia, Song of Gladness" (Lutheran Service Book 417)


Alleluia, song of gladness,
Voice of joy that cannot die;
Alleluia is the anthem
Ever raised by choirs on high;
In the house of God abiding
Thus they sing eternally.

Alleluia, thou resoundest,
True Jerusalem and free;
Alleluia, joyful mother,
All thy children sing with thee,
But by Babylon's sad waters
Mourning exiles now are we.

Alleluia cannot always
Be our song while here below;
Alleluia, our transgressions
Make us for a while forgo;
For the solemn time is coming
When our tears for sin must flow.

Therefore in our hymns we pray Thee,
Grant us, blessed Trinity,
At the last to keep Thine Easter
With Thy faithful saints on high;
There to Thee forever singing
Alleluia joyfully.