refresh

in the most difficult of times, making it through to the end of the day can often be almost unbearable. it drains us, it takes every ounce of willpower we have to put each foot in front of the other and keep moving. our outlook bleak, our problems seemingly insurmountable, our energy wallowing in a depth that culls despair, we crawl in bed each night unable to imagine facing another day.
and then we wake, putting one foot and then the other on the floor, and we keep moving. it may simply be to repeat a day like the one before, or, there might be some incremental change that makes this day just a smidgen better than the one before. but the world remains unfriendly, barren, shallow.
then comes a day when, suddenly, it's different. we wake to find our circumstances have shifted during our sleep and what surrounds us is no longer cold and hostile, but is instead bright and clear, with possibilities peaking up their little heads like crocus shoots in the early days of march.

last night it snowed, and this morning our world here is refreshed and once again friendly. we've been living in a place of dreary and deadly polluted air pushed down upon us by an unkind pressure system. each day of the past six or so has let but occasional rays of sun shoot down, and the cold, heavy air has pressed us into a disgruntled submission as we listen to our health officials who encourage us not to breathe it in.
but this morning the snow blanket sat thick and rich, sparkling, teasing the sun, cajoling it into warming us and melting the communal frigidity with which we've been draped and enmeshed.

just as night brings us rest and relief that allow us to journey forward, nature does the same to our world, if only we can be patient. and wait to be refreshed.