Here Comes the Sun

Little Darlin', it's been a long, long, lonely winter... Do you remember that Beatles song? I used to sing it to my daughter Charity when she was about two years old. She's sixteen now...it's been a long, long time since then. We used to sit together on the porch swing, both of us wet from having been in the back yard pool. I'd cuddle her little cold body in a towel and swing with her, telling her she'd be warm in just a few minutes, and 'Look! The sun is shining! It's going to warm you up in no time!' Then, I'd begin to sing our favorite dripping wet swinging on the porch song: 'Here Comes the Sun' Charity would sing along in beautiful two year old fashion and we both were so happy in those moments together. I'm so grateful for that time and for so many I've enjoyed over the years loving and being loved by my children. Interestingly enough, the Beatles had it right. No matter how dark and lonely the winter may seem; no matter how long the cold bleak days during those months may be; the winter always gives way to summer and the warmth of the sun will eventually be felt from above. I attest to the phenomenon that long, lonely winters may seem like years. Sometimes, they truly are years. Sometimes, in some lives, the winter seems like an entire lifetime... but it isn't true. No life is a perpetual wintertime. The seasons change, though we may not have eyes open enough to see. Perhaps we are wrapped so tightly in our winter coats, we don't feel the warm breeze beginning to blow...if our heads are tucked so snuggly under the covers in which we've been too long enclosed for protection, we may not be aware of the rising of the summertime sun; we may not have felt the changing seasons of life, having accepted the false notion that winter is all there is. Too often we are afraid of changes. Change requires work. Change means uncertainty. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush, right? That certainty around which we build our lives becomes security to our minds. It becomes our home. Even if a never ending frozen wasteland is the place we call home, we at least know where the good ice fishing holes are located. We feel safe at home. We are accustomed to home. But whether or not we choose to see or are able to feel the changes, they come. Children grow up and move on, as they should. Our bodies age. Relationships develop to their potential, like the maturing of a seed planted in a garden, developing to what it was destined to be from the moment it was planted. Even things that remain more or less the same, change with the passage of time. Sometimes changes are frightening. I must confess: I've been afraid of changing. I can't seem to help myself. I'm changing. I can't help but change. I can't help having been afraid. Yet- having been afraid doesn't mean I'm afraid anymore. I know the sun is coming, and I hate to sing too much of the song for you, but it's alright :) I was told recently that I'm like a ray of sunshine. That made me smile. If I am, then I'm part of the changing season, am I not? I'm part of what moves darkness to light...part of what brings warmth to that which was cold and dreary. I like that. If I am like sunshine, I mustn't be afraid of changing. I must light the way during the process of change.