THOUGHTS TO PONDER

It may well be that for some of us the most attractive thing about February is that it only lasts for 28 days. This year in particular, when the well known words of Christina Rossetti’s poem, “snow had fallen snow on snow”, have taken on a new meaning for those of us living in Colinton, February can seem an especially bleak and depressing time, sandwiched as it is between the great mid-winter festival of Christmas and the promise and anticipation of the Spring festival of Easter. Moreover, within the Christian tradition February is almost always associated with Lent and self-discipline and denial.

It is almost as if we are too busy anticipating what is to come to be able appreciate and make the most of the present. We plan and prepare for Christmas for most of November and December and then we plan and prepare for Easter for most of January and February. In all this anticipation we fail to enjoy the reality of what is.

For although the daylight hours are gradually increasing and any really bad weather will not last as long because Spring is just around the corner things, are moving very slowly and progress to “better times” seems almost imperceptible.

Our ancestors, who were much more closely in tune with the natural world than we are, saw things very differently. The Monday after the feast of Epiphany was a public holiday called Plough Monday. The ploughs were brought out to be blessed by the priest and the first furrows were made in the ground. There were celebrations and rewards for the ploughmen. Effectively, it marked the beginning of the agricultural year which would climax in the autumn with the harvest.

Our ancestors understood that if they were to survive the next winter, January and February were the months when the ground work had to be done and the land prepared for planting. They had to make the land ready in good time. They could not wait for the snowdrops, crocuses or daffodils to flower, or the catkins to appear and the temperature to rise - it had to be done and ready. Without proper foundations laid in February involving a great deal of hard work, there would be no harvest.

Have we ourselves lost sight of the fact that every month offers us different opportunities?

In the quieter time of February we can take the opportunity to “Stand and Stare” whilst we contemplate and refresh ourselves. Or are we too caught up with the anticipation of the next big event and with pursuing materialism and consumerism to be able to appreciate the good things of the present?

Wendy Stewart