I know for many of us that the winter has gone on a long time. This year’s jet stream has brought lots of snow to places that normally have very little or none of the white stuff. However, snow is an amazing thing. It has the power to transform what is normal and so everyday that we don’t see it or notice it until something suddenly jumps out at us and makes us marvel. I was walking round my usual route with Charlie this morning – the same fields that I’ve walked for nigh on 18 years, and for the first time, I saw a dip in the field that I’ve never been aware of before! OK, so that doesn’t seem like much of a revelation, but it got me thinking about the transformation possibilities of snow and then to thinking about other things that transform us or our surroundings, or how we perceive things. A good book can do that, a song which is linked to a certain time or event in our lives. A certain dress which is associated to a particular memory. A chance comment that can change the pattern of our lives for ever!
That’s got me smiling because my thoughts have veered away from my original thoughts I had whilst walking. This morning, I couldn’t help but be immersed in the wonder of a beautiful sunny morning and a Christmas card scene. It was magical. It was so beautiful it almost hurt to see it. It was so soulful. I just stood there and drank it in. Those are magical moments, moments that stay with you for the rest of your days. That was an internal photograph moment, captured on my retina and saved into my memory banks that I can refer to time and again when my soul or my mind needs solace. An experience that, whilst it might be fairly common place, is also extraordinary. A moment of meditation and reverence that pervades your whole being. I’m smiling as I’m waxing lyrical here but I think you probably know what I mean, even if you don’t share my childish love of snow. These moments are both exciting and deeply spiritual, childish and eternal, deep in our psyche as human beings that that we cannot help but be touched by them. And they are important to us. I feel so privileged to be alive this morning. To be walking through this winter landscape with my dog and able to appreciate the beauty and eternal mystery of this wonderful white stuff, of which every flake is unique and so beautiful whilst being at the same time symmetrical and predictable whilst not being predictable at all! I love paradox and this is one of nature’s best for me. A blanketing effect which yet transforms. A new way of light touching familiar contours. Highlighting contours in a way that we don’t normally see, and even better this morning, with a beautiful clear blue sky and gilded by February sunshine. Perfect!!! My day has been transformed into something wonderful. Now, isn’t there a song about Something Wonderful?….