I marveled at the power of life pushing the buds toward openness. I thought of how they patiently waited, waited, waited for the right moment before they could rise from their wintered tombs … In the neutral zone, the winter season of the heart when all seems dead and barren, the potential for life is being nurtured and readied for the hurrah of springtime. In the winter,  who would believe the empty branches of those bushes would ever sing with sweet green again?

JOYCE RUPP, OSM
FROM LITTLE PIECES OF LIGHT:
DARKNESS AND PERSONAL GROWTH
(PAULIST PRESS, 2016)