Spring Snow Reveals....
What a sloppy time of the year! It seems springtime in the Rockies is just one big muddy snowy mess right now. Out on a walk earlier today, I was pondering my desert experience in Tuscon. The landscape and weather could not be more different! Instead of cacti, trees. Instead of heat, cold. Instead of dry sand, puddles of melting snow. While sloshing through the snow-soaked ground, and noticing the patches of path showing through the snow, my images of exposed saguaro cactus bones came to mind.
This Spring snow covers the new tender shoots with an extra layer of protective moisture much like the saguaro "flesh" and spikes protect the beautiful interior of the saguaro, much like my own defensive layers protect the beauty of my inner and vulnerable self from being seen. As a grandmother now, I am experiencing how these protective layers want to extend to shield my adorable, precious grandchildren from any future hurt. My "Lita Bear" (Abuelita Bear) nature wants to sweep them out of harms way, real or imagined.
What if I succeeded? What if they never felt or expressed hurt, pain and sorrow? Would the beauty of their inner self ever be revealed? Or would it be forever hidden, like a seed never to germinate?
What if I never let myself feel or express hurt, pain and sorrow? What if I let my defenses win the day and keep me eternally protected under my own layers? Would my inner beauty ever emerge?
Spring snow shows me that though protective layers are useful for a while, they also shield our magnificence from being seen and experienced. As the snow melts, the possibility of new beginnings is revealed. Fresh, vibrant, and bountiful, the new grasses and flowers uncovered by the melting Spring snow have a chance to thrive as they are exposed to the sun's light.
How might my own inner radiance vibrate even more brightly if I allow my wholeness to be fully seen? How might my grandchildren be even more resilient, powerful, beautiful, if they experience the wholeness of themselves?
Seeds germinate in their own time, at their own pace. The unfolding is slow and needs protection. The earth provides this time of nurturing. The natural world shows us that this protection is good and natural but at some point, the seedlings break free from their shell and ascend through the protective layers into the light. In this light, fully visible and yet fully vulnerable, they develop, grow, and blossom, sharing their beauty with the world.
(This blog first appeared on my website Walking Inspiritus)