Winter weighs in.

The world glows orange at this midnight hour,
An unworldly daylight look as the street lamps are reflected in the white whiteness that covers everything.
The still and quiet of the yard makes me pause and I feel myself melt a little at its beauty.
I know tomorrow will be full of kids, of noise, of home from school-ness. There will be love, yes, but also banging and noise. Pounding feet.  Constant needs chipping away at me all day.
So I take this moment, a small moment, to see what I have.
To see the beauty outside with the trees pregnant with snow, bending their branches gracefully but with heaviness. Their pliant nature is keeping them from snapping.
And I am bent some days, heavy with the storm of life, whipping me around. Let me have grace and beauty in the midst of weighty days.
For if I only see the storm, I may miss the beauty. The snow transforms the landscape, but I can still recognize the swing, the fence, the chair. I am still here, under the whirlwind days.  In the quiet moments, which are few and far between but still there, I see myself. Let me gather my family -whirlwind and all -and be transformed and more beautiful for it.