Tug o' war

It's the day after Ash Wednesday. A day filled with sunshine, presided over by a brilliant, piercingly blue sky. But it's also piercingly cold; it's still early February. There's chill on the shadow side, warmth on the sunny side - but not warm enough to go out without scarves and winter jackets. Trees putting forth early spring blossoms taunt those with bare branches etched against the sky. Cheeky daffodils race snowdrops and crocuses. Birdsong fills the silence between passing traffic.

Nature seems suspended between winter and spring. It has felt like this for the past two months; a tug o' war between two seasons, played out in midwinter. We had March's temperatures (and some daffodils) as well as floods in December, and now December's temperatures in February, with a consequent, largely unseen impact on all the ecological systems which rely upon a certain order being maintained.

And today, the day after Ash Wednesday, Day 2 of the challenges and opportunities of Lent, I reflect on the tug o' war within myself; the sunlight and shadow, chill and warmth, bareness and blossom; the desire for growth and the resistance to it. Lent is a good time to try and reconcile the two, just as nature surely will, eventually leading us into the new life and glories of spring...