Patience Lessons

According to the late Hal Borland in Twleve Moons of the Year, "February gets its name from an ancient ceremony of purification, which occurred around the middle of the month." Borland continues, "The countryman"--and woman, I might add--"has known for generations that it is a good time to cut fence posts, prune trees and grape vines, clear out brush, and wean calves. . . . there isn't much more that a farmer can do except take care of daily chores and wait out the balance of the month."

Of course, it's easy to get impatient with the weather, ourselves, and each other during this waiting period. The tedium of ordinary work can get to us. If we don't keep our sights on the horizon line, what Borland calls "the slow stretch of daylight, which is the true index of the season," we can easily get bogged down in a sense of repetitious tedium. We become aware of the cycles and routines our actions and habits have set in motion. If we don't like what we see--that we're short of money, that the house is cluttered with bills and winter boots, that our workplace continually presents the same old challenges, that we still have a few take-out cups in our trash cans from especially stressful days--it's easy in a state of light-deprivation to look down at our feet and blame others or beat ourselves up, instead of taking responsibility for creating our own mess with humble good humor.

Borland reminds us to look up occasionally from those chores and to notice the horizon, with its earlier dawns and later dusks. "Purification isn't very painful," Borland assures us. "It's mostly a matter of learning patience again." If patience is the lesson of February, we need to keep that in mind when we're driving through a blizzard, reminding sleepy children to do their homework, or even sorting through a daunting pile of laundry or filing. Curious to ponder that our Lenten Practices coincide with an ancient purification ritual, based on an awareness that the cycles of the season deeply resonate with the cycles of human souls.