”Like Spring secretly at work within the heart of Winter,
Below the surface of our lives
Huge changes are in fermentation.
We never suspect a thing.
Then when the grip of some
long-enduring winter mentality
begins to loosen,
we find ourselves
vulnerable
to a flourish
of possibility
and we are suddenly negotiating
the challenges
of a threshold…”

Thresholds, John O Donahue

The snowdrops came up this weekend. Their reappearance every year brings a shock of hope so unexpected and intense it’s almost violent. It only took a few hours of sunlight on a warm brick wall and there they were.

It’s easy to forget, when things are hard, that there are forces waiting just below the surface. Dormant, gathering strength, looking for their moment. Not just in nature. Remember the snowdrops, Idealists, and turn your face to the sun.