Listen to this song at https://soundcloud.com/stacey-nalean-carlson.
This was the week that winter got the best of me. Nothing seemed to be working. Nothing felt right. I reached out to a new friend, lamenting to her that what I most want to do is walk in the woods on a sunny spring day, but that’s a long way off.
She responded with beautiful wisdom: Take naps and go to bed as needed. Get outside to run. The peaceful air helps cleanse the soul. Bundle up and walk if that’s a better option…I guess I’m just saying, go be you. Do what you know is best for you.
I heeded her advice. I bundled up and went out on the trails, basked in the sunshine, trudged through the snow, listened to the birds, listened to God.
This is the song that emerged from that time. I’ve been humming it ever since, with its needed reminder that you are loved. You are healed. You are whole.
Even now.
Even in the midst of this long winter.
Even when you don’t have all the answers, when you’re not even sure what questions to be asking.
Even when you can’t figure out what is best for you, when the gray days sap your energy and your creativity, when you don’t even know who you are anymore…
Know this:
You are loved. You are healed. You are whole.
Welcome, Weary Pilgrim
Welcome, weary pilgrim.
We won’t ask you why you’re here.
We’ll just hold your wounded spirit.
We’ll just dry your every tear.
Refrain
You are loved.
You are healed.
You are whole.
Here the snow rests gently
on the branches overhead.
There’s a canopy of peace here.
There is wine and there is bread. Refrain
Footprints testify here:
there are those who’ve gone before.
They won’t ease your path completely,
but they’ll help you to explore. Refrain
When the questions scare you…
When the winter is too long…
Hear the flowing spring beside you
singing loud its freedom song: Refrain