BREAKING OPEN THE ORDINARY

By Sandy Prather

To be touched by the Spirit is to blossom with life

When I was a child one of my favourite stories was The Legend of the Snow Queen. Predating C. S. Lewis’ Narnia tales, and with Norwegian roots, it tells of a land where it is always winter. Ruled by an icily beautiful Snow Queen who rides in a sleigh and is dressed in winter furs, the land is always cold, dark and hostile. Her people are virtual prisoners, locked in a twilight of misery. The legend tells of two children, a brother and sister, who enter the land of the Snow Queen. The little boy falls under her spell when one of her ice crystals enters his heart and freezes him. It is only through the self-sacrificing love of his sister that the ice crystal melts and he is freed.

The miraculous thing is, once love is set loose in the land, the wintery grip of the Snow Queen is vanquished. There is a powerful description of what happens then: ice begins to melt, the perpetual twilight gives way to soft dawns and blue skies, the days lengthen and the sun begins to warm everything. Green starts to appear over the white landscape as trees bud, grass sprouts and seedlings tentatively poke their heads up out of muddy ground.

Not only the landscape of the earth, but the landscape of the inhabitants’ hearts is also freed. What was frozen, hard, unkind, dour and cranky becomes warm, loving, compassionate and joyful. Love brings spring to a land and a people where winter had once ruled and everything is transformed.

Like all good stories, there is deep truth here. Sometimes I think the only hope of enduring a Prairie winter is the sure knowledge that spring will come. In these March/April days, as snow gives way to rain and warmer temperatures tempt us outdoors, we shed our layers like butterflies coming out of cocoons. We are on the lookout for the first green shoots of crocuses and tulips, eagerly marking the buds of trees which promise fuller life to come.

Each year we have the privilege of seeing what happens to a landscape when warmth, sun and light permeate it, when it “undergoes” spring.

Would that we might also know the truth of the inner transformation that the legend speaks of! For the reality is that sometimes it is our lives that are caught in winter and we walk in the cold and the dark, no matter what the season. Bitterness and anger deaden life within us; regret and remorse darken our days. Loss and grief cause our hearts to shut down while anxiety and worry freeze out hope and joy. Inwardly, we feel barren and hard, bereft of light and love. One friend, reflecting on a long-standing, unresolved crisis in her life, commented, “I feel like it’s been winter for a long time.”

Winters of discontent — we are all touched at one time or another. What do we need if we are to undergo spring? What might thaw a frozen heart?

The great mystic, Hildegard of Bingen, gives us the beautiful image of veriditas, “the greening of the Spirit.” Just as spring has the power to transform the land, God’s Spirit has the power to transform us. Warmth thaws that which is frozen; light brightens that which is dark. Under the greening of the Spirit, everything unyielding, hard and barren in our life becomes gentle, soft and fruitful.

Viriditas causes hearts to melt. Such is the power of love. Newborn babies and daughters in wedding dresses can do it. So can a sincere word of praise or a hug of forgiveness. A gentle touch, given and received, can unleash wellsprings of joy; a second chance can offer hope. Once the Spirit is set loose in one’s life, all manner of things can happen.

Nikos Kazantzakis, the great Greek author, wrote, “I said to the almond tree, ‘Sister almond tree, speak to me of God.’ And the almond tree blossomed.” To be touched by the Spirit is to live life blossoming! It is, after all, God’s greatest desire for each of us, that we might blossom and bloom, and thereby bear much fruit. To hand one’s self over to viriditas is to live one’s life in an endless spring-time, “undergoing God,” who brings all things to life.

Lord
how poor I am in winter
when I stop growing
and want only to survive

under the burden of snow
and in merciless frost.
I can only hold on
to the hope of spring.

Stay with me
and perform the miracle again:
let the grip of winter be broken
complete the cycle and let me bloom
and bear fruit once more. (Anon)

Prather, BEd, MTh, teaches and facilitates in the areas of faith and spirituality and is the director at Star of the North Retreat Centre in St. Albert, Alta. She and her husband Bob are blessed with four children and 10 grandchildren.