Daily Meditation for January 20, 2022

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently?” asks Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland. So what can we learn of love from snow? Growing up in the northern latitudes, we had ample opportunity to know snow intimately. It protected us in snow forts and as ammunition. We could hide in snow, eat it, play on it, and make a little money shoveling it. Perhaps snow shows its love for us also as a part of nature, by its presence. And this is what we can learn from snow: a key way to love others, by being present to them…simple things like walking them home, hanging out, being a sounding board, and being predictable and easy to find. When a person feels lonely, worried or sad, it is comforting to have someone just quietly be there. So we might drop in, soft and silent as snow.

By Mary Jackle, OSB