Hello Adorable Ones!
March in my neck of the woods came in like a sleepy lion who ate lunch and then took a nap under a wet tree in some damp grass- cloudy, misty, and with enough humidity in the air to make 44 degrees feel like needing a light jacket to keep the chill off my skin.
I’m wondering-
Do you miss the golden olden, agricultural, war days? The days when you just knew what season it really was because you kept watch of the sun and you knew what natural symbols really meant? The days when the new year began at the beginning of the food growing season way back before industrialized, modernity stole your growth and symbolic interpretation skills- back when March 1st (think Mars, but not the addictive chocolate kind that St. Matthias reminded me to be mindful of last month) meant let’s start growing our food and getting ready for the rough days ahead i.e. the inevitable, growing, battle that will happen amongst thorns and thistles and enemies.
If you’re anything like me, modern symbolism might have you needing more wisdom seeking prayer time as well as more time with WW’s yellow, hope filled, dancing daffodils so that any loneliness you may have might be turned into solitude.
All of my transformational March thoughts really came to a head as I found myself being invited into long covid awareness day which is on March 15th. As I stared at the symbolism in its spliced together grey, black, and greyish/teal ribbon; I realized things were beginning to look nothing like Groundhog Day (the Bill Murray movie) because at the end of that movie (spoiler alert) the rotten tomatoes, real jerk of a weather guy/man turns into a better guy/man. What I saw in that long Covid ribbon was that it was here to offer me nothing at all like what I could see in Groundhog Day or in Candlemas i.e. light and a better version of myself.
The main theme of the Groundhog Day movie is being able to turn each horrible day of living in a small town of personal hell, into an opportunity for learning and personal growth-
to do something better and transformational with the circumstances you’ve been given.
Ground Hog Day, the BM movie, is a transfiguration epiphany of sorts. It’s a story about how someone with some real jerk qualities, and who is lacking in character, can become a better person, if the meaning and purpose of life is clearly understood and sought out. In other words, if you are willing to work with the bad circumstances you have been given, then you can learn (through trial and error) how to be a better, more loving, and kind human being. However, this movie also seems to be lacking in any kind of clear source of higher inspiration while obviously being inspired by a higher moral standard that came from somewhere or someone known to be way up high in the sky. My hubby (the chicken whisperer) and I have decided to make watching Ground Hog Day on Candlemas a yearly thing so that we will never forget its common, but often forgettable while living in Modernlandia, transformational themes.
When I saw that rather grim looking, spliced together, tri-colored, long covid ribbon, with its dark, black, grey, grayish teal, lightless, sunless, starless, moonless, fruitless dome of a ribbon sky and heard it speaking its message of gloom and crushed hope to me, I immediately thought of St. Patrick’s snakes. I heard him whisper in my ear, “Lassie, that’s not the right color of green for my day in March.” Yes Patrick, everybody knows that March 4-leaf clovers are vibrant green, full of renewal, full of life, full of re-birth, full of hope; a vibrant green that is not a greyish teal and resembling a dark shade of death that offers nothing of higher value to reach for and with no bright yellow transformational stars to hopefully wish upon nor wisdom to teach us that trials bring necessary resilience and growth and strength into our lives like that story about Pinocchio becoming a virtuous real human boy.
See those white violets and that purple hyacinth and those leaves on the spring rose bush? They are saying to you that 0 dark 30 has already happened. Dark happened right before the celebration of Christ’s birthday in the deepest and darkest days of spooky season that started on October 31st aka All Hallow’s Eve. And since we still had some sun, moon, stars, and candles and fairy lights shining during that time; those dark days were not really as dark as we may have thought they were. Darkness began getting lighter with the arrival of Christ on December 25th. So, when I see an awareness ribbon with grey and black and a greige shade of teal wanting to appear smack dab in the middle of March between St. Gregory’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day when it is getting lighter and not darker (in the northern hemisphere, of course), I am reminded that Jesus said, there would be days like this; days full of thorny, thistle, trials that bring suffering and pain and grief and loss and sorrow, but every dark night of the soul needs some hope filled light shining down on it from above to give it something to wish for, reach for, and aspire to, or the darkness may take over the soul, and the soul may succumb to the darkness and miss it’s chance to become a real better, less of a jerk and more virtuous, human person.
Frankly, the long covid ribbon looks like a distress signal to me. It looks like a modern awareness movement without someone or something of higher quality to aspire to. The long covid sickness campaign is without a real healer and without healing. It has no hope for the whole soul. The ILCA narrative is full of greyish green, walking dead, symbolic people who have no one like Christ in their story to bring salvation or healing to them. There is no one there to tell them what a hope filled future could even look like. They have no one encouraging them to strive for the healing of their whole soul nor do they have a virtuous servant like St. David to look up to. They do not have anyone to remind them to do the little things like- live a holy life that brings honor and glory to Christ, love others well. They have no one to remind them to pray in order to seek the higher good from someone who is above them and who is of a much higher quality of character than they are.
“Be joyful, keep the faith, do the little things you have seen me do”. ~St David
The ICLA webby page has no human faces on it. It has nothing more than faceless shadows of something like people. It has no real, virtuous, heroes to offer us a message of hope filled, overcomer, salvation, possibilities. This modern movement has no Lady’s song or proclamation of anything to aspire to. It’s not anything at all like Lady Day which is on March 25th. In fact, it does not even have a lady on its March 15th Day. It offers a diminished hope as far as I’m concerned because it offers no transformational, healing, light.
Hope is yellow, it is light, it shines like the sun, it purifies, it refines, it provides energy, it renews, it transforms, it gives life…….
Hello old me!
Do you see that light trying to shine through that dark and dusty window over yonder? It’s coming from the East and it’s not Juliet or Romeo or TS or JT or Phil, the groundhog. It’s The Christ! He is the sun, moon, and stars! Let Him be your Prince of Peace, your lamp stand, your measure of time for all eternity and you will find rest for your weary soul.
Heavenly Father,
Please help everyone who has gathered here find everything needed to heal their entire being- mind, body, spirit - soul. Please provide us with the grace that we need to bear our trials well.
Please forgive all of our sins. You have created everything in your power, and you have given us the breath of life. In every breath that we take, in every morning that we wake, and in every moment of every hour, we live under your healing care. Please touch us with your merciful, kind, loving, healing, power. Recreate us in your image. Heal our sick soul by your healing power. Cast out anything that should not be in us and replace it with everything good that should be within us. Bind up what is broken within us. Remove and replace any inflamed, damaged, cancerous, or unproductive cells, bones, and tissues from our body and cleanse us from all illness. May the warmth of your healing power pass into our body and make the sick areas of our soul new so that our entire being will heal and be used to bring glory to your wonderful name, that we might be used for your Kingdom to bring you honor and glory.
In Jesus name, Amen.
*Leaving Death in the Dust is a newsletter and is not a replacement for professional, regulated, medical, healthcare. This is informational and educational. Some of us in this community may have worked in the healthcare system, but we are not your medical provider and whatever you find here is not the establishment of a professional medical relationship or medical advice. **That is an MT behind my name not an MD.
Best Wishes,
Stephanie
Luke 1:46-55
English Standard Version
Mary's Song of Praise: The Magnificat
46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
