But Sarah’s heart was full. It was as full as when the sounds of her own children had filled her house. – in “The Mitten Tree” by Candace Christiansen
Everywhere I
look people are writing about the silence, the quiet hush of these snow-covered
days. Upstairs alone for a few brief
moments, the fluffy, white duvet on our bed fills me with longing to be covered
also, to lay down under a blanket of white.
Two full walls of windows fill the room with sunlight so inviting, but I
turn and head downstairs to the kitchen, the heart of our home.
Snow brings
silence, peace, stillness, they say, but our house hums like a hive on these
winter days. School is canceled or
delayed and four little bodies fill every corner with motion and noise, the
steady, spinning, thriving sound of energy bottled for a time.
A whole
beautiful day of giant fluffy flakes passes without a moment to pause.
No sitting
quietly by the window with a steaming mug.
No time to
marvel much as the setting sun paints the landscape pink with long steady strokes.
We twirl
through these days like so many snowflakes falling, carried along by the weight
of who we are. It would be a lie if I
were to claim an unwavering contentment about this – about the noise and motion,
the constant clutter and chaos.
But I’m
learning to love what is rather than longing for what is not and that in
itself offers a silence of sorts, a settling-in to the falling, swirling journey of
these days. I know now that this too shall pass.
Piled on the couch with my boys, reading “The Mitten Tree,” it comes to me: the silence and the sound, the stillness and the humming hive, they are but two sides of an ever-changing coin. In welcoming one, I prepare myself to welcome – embrace – the other; the key to contentment and joy is hidden in the surrender to what is, rather than in the longing for some preferred alternative.
Linking with Jennifer Dukes Lee. Photo credit: Here.
Great post………..
It is good for us to live in the moment accepting what ever it brings, rather than always wishing
for something else………….which only leads to discontentment., but these lessons are sometimes hard to learn and retain for all of us.
Blessings, Nellie
Oh, what wise, wonderful words, Kelly. "the key to contentment and joy is hidden in the surrender to what is, rather than in the longing for some preferred alternative." Wow.
Thanks, Jody. Now to live it . . .
You are a beautiful writer, Kelly. As a kid, my house was the same way you describe. The chaos and fun of it all was what we kids lived for…and Mom embraced it as much as she could!
Isn't that funny – I wonder how my kids will remember my perspective from these days. Thanks for commenting, Laura.
You are really a fantastic writer, Kelly.
Thanks, Jennifer 🙂
Honestly beautiful. Surrender is a word that has resonated with me these weeks and your words really put meaning to what that look and feels like.
Thanks Rhona. It's a word that keeps arriving in different forms in my life.