As 2019 was ending, I gave thanks ... “for what lies ahead is more challenging and exciting and engaging than I can ever image.”
Little did I know what I was prophesying! Then, on January 1 of last year, we were joyful and excited about the New Year. Now, twelve months later, we are daring to be optimistic, cautiously optimistic about the coming year.
From time to time my mind drifts to the splendid Japanese garden where I am a volunteer gardener. Here there is a source of perseverance and of courage as we notice how winter has painted this beguiling landscape, brushing it into a symphony of colors and textures, with the realization that each season, each event is a cause for celebration. There is solace in its simplicity.
Photographer Bill Peterson beautifully captured
raindrops glistening on holly,
a promise of the wonder now and to come.
We observe how the evergreen holly leaves glisten with raindrops while holly branches are alive with bright red berries, soon to be devoured by squirrels and birds. Here and there fungi are breaking ground, seeming to traverse the pathways and tucking themselves protectively under the foliage of the holly and other plantings.
In the background a solitary stone lantern maintains its reticent vigil, beckoning and lighting the way. Nearby, but unseen, a moss-draped rock turtle, a symbol of wisdom and peace, patiently awaits the arrival of the New Year.
Thus it is that we end 2020 and greet 2021 in the stillness of this Japanese garden as well as in the surrounding woodlands where their pristine beauty rejuvenates and offers hope for an abundance of healing and a resurgence of kindness. All is at rest and awaiting the arrival of a new spring to stimulate the bounty and beauty of the garden and forest floors.
Yes, welcome 2021. We await you with great enthusiasm!