winter

Now that the holidays are well behind us and the amount of activity has come to a halt, the time is right for us to spend more time at home, sheltered from the bitter cold. I'm looking out my front window at a winter sunset, and although the warm-tone colors of the sky are teasing me with thoughts of the spring, it is definitely winter.

It is appropriately winter, too. Winter is dark and cold-- the ground is frozen and much is dead or dying. Much in the rest of the world and in our lives feels the same way: dark and cold. Our human history does not seem to be moving in a good direction-- it seems more like we're walking down a road that leads mostly to death and dying, a possibly permanent winter.

Globally speaking, terrorism, disease, civil wars, , climate change, starvation, and a lack of clean water are all increasing, and compounding, problems. As for our nation, our economy, the price of gas, politics, land use, religion (see: Huckabee, Mike), and our failing military doctrines have many heads spinning, wondering what our future looks like. Locally, several large-scale employers are laying off thousands, families are losing their homes, race relations are tense, and many are hungry, lonely, desperate and very cold.

I guess this is my emo moment: It is not appropriate to talk about spring yet. Sometimes it is important to dwell just a little longer on what is wrong and scary and dark in the world, both for our own understanding of the depth of that darkness, and for our solidarity with those who experience that darkness not only existentially or metaphorically, but in the every day reality of their human experiences.

The sun finally went down, and I need to go do something else with my evening.