In The Bleak Midwinter
(If you can handle the hygge, pop to the end of this post before reading it, and hit “play” on the song. Then scroll back up here and commence to reading. You’re welcome.)
No one has been “officially” sick here all winter so far, and I am well and happy in the soul-of-my-soul, praise be.
But winter still begs for stocks and soups - heavy on the garlic, with garnishes of gremolata or pesto, and lots of those tiny datalini pastas.
I love a cashew pesto garnish on a hearty Italian chicken soup
Soup is perennial tonic, but winter soup is its own thing. Revelatory. Layered with flavors and February colors, it’s as contemplative as it is nourishing. It murmurs its love when it bubbles in the copper stock pot.
There’s “The Nurturer” living inside you and me, my friend, and cold rain in February is her jam. Let’s let her out, these next four weeks, for she knows how to winter well. She doesn’t even need paintbrushes or art journals. She just needs people to love.
She needs bellies to feed and friends with whom to share stew.
As we softly step past the Celtic celebration of “Imbolc”, gathering daylight as we go, we dare not waste the brittle cold, nor set our heart on days of false spring. For they are but shadows of the substance that is April and May. The goal is to say goodbye to winter 2023 having done the dang thing. No regrets.
So. Let’s allow The Nurturer to gather her spices and conjure her broths. Let’s watch her build fires using our own hands. Light candles. Sit idling with flames and little children. Stare at stars, while wrapped in blankets.
The Nurturer is as rooted and she is wild and wide. She’s just as creative, and I’d dare to say more so, than any other kind of artist.
May you be well, this February. May your month be filled with the satisfaction of a walk or two in the stark freeze, and the joy of kitchen-ish things.
Because never trust an artist who rarely cooks for her people.
How Wonderful Could It All Be, Really?
One of my favorite songs EVER, is Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”.
I can never hear it, but what my heart doesn’t beat faster, and I feel my nervous system uncoiling itself into joy.
Truly, this world is a wonderful world. My life is a wonderful, wonderful life. And all of it begs the question:
How wonderful could it be….really?
If my life equals the sum total of my thoughts about it, if my feelings about this life are equal to my opinion of God’s goodness towards me, how wonderful might it all become if I changed my mind?
How wonderful could my experience of my life be if:
I stop letting other people determine how far I believe I can go…
if I stop trying to fix myself, as though something is broken…
if I stop wishing for past events to be different…
if I stop thinking that my body is anything less than the miraculous marvelous home of a beautiful eternal soul?
How wonderful are we allowing God to be to us? What if we women could re-wild ourselves from rules to the riches of grace? What might our day be like, moving from martyrdom to true service, out of well meaning religion and into a well being that flows like rivers of living waters from our still-expectant bellies?
How wonderful, how abundant, is it all meant to be?
How wonderful does God want your marriage to be? How wonderful does He want your creative expression to feel? How wonderfully impactful could your small business be?
I’ve come to a place where I am convinced that my original design is far better than what “wellness” as a modern-day industry can ever offer me. My original design is beyond “body positivity” - it is more than simply loving myself even if I was overweight or unhealthy. My original design might include, but in its full expression is actually better than anything any book or functional medicine guru can teach me.
My life lived at the right hand of God, seated in heavenly places, hidden away in Christ, puts me out of reach of diet dogmas, extreme protocols, and even “food freedom”. Divine life is life at a whole, other level - a level in which my life force doesn’t have to be dissipated by chasing what most women chase.
When I am able to receive the life of God into my whole being, including my body, the profound good news of it lets my nervous system “un-grip” itself. Parts of me get to come out of hiding and into full acceptance.
Placing myself in integrated alignment with the goodness of God directly impacts my whole experience of life: my creativity, my abundance, my spirituality, my physicality, every last part gets to come into favor.
Unearned, and undeserved favor.
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14: 17)
This kingdom I am living in really is not about “food and drink”. It isn’t about wellness rules, religious rules, mental health rules, social media rules, or your unspoken rules pertaining to me. This kingdom has zero to do with cultural expectations. Rather, this kingdom really is about righteousness (being made as I ought always to have been, given to me as sheer gift) peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
{ ::voice lowers to a conspiratorial whisper:: “Hey queen. What would it look like for you to reign in life, not rein-in your life?”}
How wonderful could it all be….really?