It is about to be All Hallow's Eve, better known as Halloween, All Saints Day (Nov 1st), All Souls Day (Nov 2nd), or Samhain (Celtic New Year), or Dia de Los Muertas (Day of the Dead, Nov 2nd) and so on. Why all these interesting holidays this time of year?
We (the earth) are at the midway point between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter
Solstice (in the northern hemisphere, that is). Winter Solstice being the shortest day of the year, or the longest night. As we head toward December 21st from Oct 31st / Nov 1 / Nov 2nd, the earth was thought to be going into its "dying" phase as the trees lose their leaves, plants seemingly die, it gets colder. The days get shorter and the nights get longer. It was thought by many cultures that this was a time when the barrier between the spirit world and the physical world of the living is most thin. The night dominates. Spirits come to visit, hence it can be a dangerous, fearful time.
Just like our planet and its seasons, we also have our seasons of life. And our seasons of life, unlike the earth's three month seasons can last years. All of us have our metaphorical summers, winters, springs and falls.
In our modern Western American culture though, most people wish to over-emphasize our metaphorical "summers". Happy, happy all the time. Stay happy, pursuit of happiness. The right to happy. Fear, sadness, decline, illness, death, dying, loss, (winters) are to be avoided at all costs. But I suppose this is natural, for who really wishes to face suffering and fear?
But that's not the way life is. Winter comes. We may not wish to go there, but an event in life that we do not choose may catapult us there. And there we are, in winter. Loss, grief, depression, dealing with an injury, facing illness, etc. may put us in our "winters". It may not be the most pleasant time of life. It is not happy, happy, joy, joy. It is downright scary. It may be a time we face our worst fears. More fearful than anything we may have ever faced in life. But oh what we can learn and how we can grow from our winters.
Walking around the VA hospital where I work, I see people facing their greatest fears...waiting with anticipation for information about their medical situation....people crowded in waiting rooms in the oncology clinic, or radiology...the ICUs, waiting for loved ones to come out of the OR, the ER.
For those of you who have never had to face these events, can you imagine what must be going through their minds? The anxiety. The fear. The suffering of waiting and going through test after medical test. People who were once young and strong, now dealing with their illness or injury. Waiting and wondering, will I ever walk again? Will I heal? Will I ever beat this disease? Do I have cancer or is it benign? Waiting to see the doctor, waiting to hear information.
That time of waiting .....the mind can so easily run away with itself with fear and worry. The waiting ...can be the worst of all.
Waiting is often the hardest part of anything, yet the Prophet Isaiah tells us that if we wait for the Lord, he will renew our strength. This is perhaps the hardest wait of all, as we try to understand God's purpose and plan for our lives.
ReplyDeleteNY Times ran Steve Jobs' sisters' eulogy. He "achieved" death. While we know we wait for death, we seem to favor the war analogies: battled, suffered, etc. I took my last relaxed breath the moment before the Dr. said "Melanoma". Now we wait. The next stage, the next appmt, the next PTscan. People most often say "think positive". I am thinking positive: I am positively scared.
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