I didn't get out much, what with the snow in the beginning of the month and my developing a "stubborn chest cold" later (that I still haven't managed to shake). Ironically, my immune system has always been pretty strong — except for its blind spot for Lyme Disease bacteria and its associated co-infections.
When the kids were growing up, I "shook off" most seasonal-minor-illness stuff. But now I am not only officially "over-the-hill," but am also in the early stages of tumbling along the strange-descent-down-the-other-side of the hill (ha, ha!😵💫😜). Colds and flu-ish things and headaches hang around longer, and require "rest" — which I have never been good at. But clearly last month's weather was not the kind that makes venturing out on my "three-legged-adventures" a restful experience.
Still, I got out a little bit and took pictures. And I also took some time crafting them with a variety of tools at JJStudios (this is also not "restful"). But I have a few things for the "virtual gallery" that will allow us to begin moving toward the Spring Equinox, as life and color begin to emerge... at least in our part of the world.
There are many reasons why people caught up in war might forget about spring. But war zones are not only places where humans suffer. The environment also dies under all these "hammers," all this "epic fury." It will be a burnt, charred springtime (if not worse) in Iran and the Middle East, in Ukraine, and who knows where else. Not to mention the colossal waste of resources for all the armaments that continue to contribute to human and environmental misery, pillaging and poisoning the earth. We are all to blame for this: the poisons in the air — from self-indulgence, greed, and war — have their radical origin from the poison in our hearts.
What can we do when war rages in "faraway" places? For one thing, we can acknowledge our own contribution to the "global rage," and how our own negligence has contributed to the epidemic of hearts growing colder and darker and fruitless in the ways of love. But we need not despair: the Divine Physician has come to bring healing and to set our hearts on fire. If we repent of our sins and let his healing mercy work within us, we will be able to bring change to our barren, blistered, frozen world — to bring forth works of mercy and beauty that offer healing and hope.
Here are a few recent pictures for this season in my own Virginia:
