A Spring Thaw

© 2005

Cold. It slows life to an almost immobile state, making us thankful for only a whiff of warmth.

Is this G‑d's way of making us appreciate the vibrancy of life?

The simple act of breathing,has become obviously meaningful. Before, only an unnoticed motion; now labored, and made visible in billowing clouds of mist.

Life itself, waxes and wanes, as it is blown by the bitter wind.

Now there can be no doubt, about the tenuous existence of man­kind.

Shaking, shivering, making us run instead of walk, we are made uncomfortably aware, of a formerly forgotten body.
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Finally, it's spring. The frigid cold of winter still aches in my bones. Yet now, the memories are slowly fading, as the brilliant sun warms my white face.

The quick pace of pulsating life has returned. Moving, growing, changing colors, are bursting out around me. A great symphony, with all of creation playing its own melody, in wondrous unity. Aahh, life...

An uncontrollable smile comes across my face. Every­where there is beauty. Formerly unnoticed, now exploding in a spectacle of brilliance. Why is this called nature? What's so natural about it?

My senses are overloaded with the excitement of, sights and sounds, and glorious smells of overpowering fragrances.

I can feel my own life rushing through me! The obvious G‑dliness everywhere is overwhelming. I can hardly breathe, as the tremendous exhilaration balloons through my being.
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Suddenly, the expansive awareness disappears. What happened? I frantically look around searching for an an­swer.

Then I realize: What is all this beauty worth if there is no one to share it with? Is this how Adam felt long ago, when he had all of creation to himself, and yet, desperately cried out to G‑d?
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Man was not made only to take, and not to give.

I now realize what life really is. Not stone‑like coldness, or even a beautifully sunny day, but one intangi­ble human spirit, reaching out to another; and at the same time, reaching the spirit of all ‑‑ G‑d.