Sing for Your Life

It's Spring!

Right??

Just yesterday morning, I know I saw grass in the yard next door. Now - nearly a foot of snow.

In Spring!

I have been hearing a lot of complaining about the snow, about this long winter - and, yes, I've done a bit of complaining myself. I've also found myself wondering about what Mother Nature is telling us. In the old Wisdom Ways, the people watched, and listened for signs from nature. They received information as to what had come before, and what was yet to come by watching the cycles and seasons of life. So I've been thinking about that, and wondering about this late emergence of spring.

As I shoveled my walk this morning, these thoughts were turning in me - what parts of me are lying dormant like seeds in the frozen ground, huddled deep inside of me, waiting for those "just right" conditions before I feel free to express? Sometimes there is such a powerful yearning in my spirit, a longing to burst forth like the first brave shoots of daffodil, poking through the snow. I looked around, and it occurred to me that no matter how intrepid the daffodil, there was no way those shoots would find the sun today. The conditions are not right. No matter if we think daffodils should bloom in April or not, the cycle of this winter season is not complete.

Photo credit emiline at Flikr

Is this true of my own inner yearnings? I am an Aries woman, always on the go, always ready to get out there and make things happen. In many ways, this trait has served me well. But the deep, inner parts of me don't respond to that type of push. I remember when I was a little girl, I was doing a science experiment for school that involved planting seeds and documenting their growth. My little Aries self was certain I could make them grow faster - I made a little slit in the seed and gently pried it open before I put it into the earth. Even back then, I felt this urgency for emergence.

Now, at age 52, I'm finding myself working more with allowing things to emerge in their own time. Trusting that I am living, expressing, emerging in perfect timing each day. Taking care of myself, creating the right conditions - and, sometimes that means waiting for the right conditions. Waiting for the season to turn.

My mind was busy as my shovel worked the piles of snow. And then I heard it. Across the hush of the snow, the unmistakable song of a cardinal.

Photo credit: quietly me at Flikr

Bright and cheerful, cutting through the silence, filled with the pure joy of expression. The song of life. The sound of it - the energy of it - filled my heart with so much happiness. I looked around me and saw the beauty of the snow. I know, I'm hearing a collective groan from all the Minnesotans reading this - but I really did see the beauty. The peaceful quiet. The joyful expression of life.

So, my learning in this morning's shoveling exercise is this: we've got to sing for our life every moment of every day! The conditions are what the conditions are; what is emerging is what is emerging. But my song - nothing can keep my from singing my song of life. If the cardinals can sing with such pure abandon in spite of the cold and snow, so can I!

What form does your song of life take on this day? Maybe it's the smile you sent to the crabby waitress at breakfast. Maybe you reach out and call someone you haven't spoken to for awhile. Maybe you turn up the music loud and sing along to your favorite song - just because you can. Whatever the form, sing out loud, sing for your life!