The Prayer Thread is a collection of teachings and practical prompts to help as we learn to pray in community. This text was originally delivered on February 28, 2025 as a short teaching at our online weekly prayer sit.
In the U. S. Midwest, we call it the shoulder season. It’s the inbetween time when traces of the old and the new lay side-byside. The silence and stillness of winter lay heavy in melting snow on the ground and ice dripping from the trees. The sounds and movement of spring are flying in and flowing deep. Birds are calling out to Love in their sping searching for partnership, and ice-turned-water falls, “drip, drip” onto everything below from places on high.
In the juxtaposition of the seasons, there is a glistening, which you can observe, if you are listening! In-between the silent stillness of winter and the moving sounds of spring, a layer of light shines through the water that permeates everything, reminding a spiritual heart, bent over toward Love, that all is Good; all of creation glistens in glory!
It is easy to forget, hard to remember, the Sacramental Presence of the Holy One permeating all that is broken and bringing everything in motion and chaos toward healing and wholeness. Therefore, in prayer, we work our muscles in the practice of Presence. We invite old man winter and sister spring to help us remember how to listen for the glisten.
