Winter

A few days ago I went outside and began the task of pulling up some dead flowers and raking up and discarding some dead leaves. This is not an easy task since there are eleven trees in my backyard. I don't try to get them all, but I wanted to tidy up around the main part of the house. Very often my connection with the outdoors is conducive to receiving messages, I guess because of my proximity to the earth and its energy, and this day was no exception.

I guess my Unseen Support System knows that this is not my favorite time of year. I am a spring and summer girl. I love warm weather and sunshine. I love working in my yard, planting flowers, watering them, watching them grow and watching the fish and the frogs in my pond. I love being outside and I do not like being cold. So when the days get shorter and the leaves start to turn, it is beautiful, yes, but it is a reminder that soon I will be wearing more clothing and struggling to keep warm. This particular day was pleasant and I was enjoying my outdoor tasks of gathering and discarding the old dead foliage.

So my Guides decided it was a good time to address my aversion to winter. And this is the message I received.

"Do you think that the trees start to worry or be upset when their leaves begin to fall off? Do you think the flowers grieve the loss of their beauty?

"What if the trees began to wonder if they would ever get leaves again? Here they are, bare and standing out in the cold, and they are not the least bit worried!! They are not upset that they are not producing leaves and the plants are not upset they they are not blooming!! They know that the time will come when the leaves will grow back and the flowers will once again bloom. Even those flowers that do not return the next season are satisfied with the knowledge that they will just change form and go back into the earth, making the soil rich for whatever comes after them.

"You, Joy, need to be like the trees. Embrace the winter season of your life. Embrace every season. What you resist, persists. When you are not producing, you are growing stronger roots, you are growing deeper within yourself. Do not be upset when you go a few days or a week and do not see any results. Do not be upset if you go a few days or weeks with no apparent messages. You do not need to be producing all the time.

"All it takes is a small change in your focus. Don't focus on the cold and how much you prefer warmth. Embrace the cold. Be one with the season in which you find yourself. There is a whole world out there to enjoy. Don't limit yourself to only those places that are warm. When you only find pleasure in one particular season of your life, you are missing out on all the rest. Those times in your life which you would look back and consider winter seasons are those in which you became stronger and deeper. Winter is all about going within, finding your strength within yourself. There will be plenty of time to enjoy summer. Don't wish away your life wishing or thinking about what you would rather be doing. Enjoy the present, whatever season you find yourself in."

So my message for today is......enjoy the season of your life you find yourself in today. Do not mourn the past or pine away for some time in the future when things will be different from how they are today. Enjoy today.  Today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.