Have you ever had situations, circumstances, or relationships that seemed just dead on the surface?  Most of us have been there.  Either what once was promising, hopeful, or even flourishing just stagnates, withers, and dies.  Or it seems dead.  The winter scene this week reminded me of those many scenarios.  All can seem lost, and then within moments a glimpse of revival can change the course of the scenario then changing the outcome.  Underneath what appeared dead is life!  Survival that keeps us moving forward in life!  Hope just rises above the death.  Don’t let the dead fool you this week.  At any second, moment, or even day the survival can arise above the death!

Survivors of Death

Nothing appears to be alive.

All things I see are brown, brittle, and dead.

The ground is dry and crunchy.

Dampness hangs everywhere.

The longer you are surrounded by it.

The colder you get.

Nothing moves.

All things are hidden away.

Then one by one they start to appear.

They dart from tree to tree.

Trying to reach the feeders left for them.

Red, yellow, blue, brown—-blue birds, woodpeckers, chickadees, red birds.

All gather back and forth from trees to feeders.

Then at a glimpse I see the long, fluffy tail.

A squirrel appears on the fence.

Playing a game of hop-scotch.

The cold wind moves the trees.

Making them appear to be dancing.

All in synchrony like ballet dancers,

But bare without life.

Out of the thick, beige grasses,

Peaks a bunny.

Grey and furry sneaking out just a moment to grab anything green.

Then right back into her warm burrow.

The landscape looks barren.

Then very slowly a slight twitch of a snow, white tail moves.

She moves very slowly across the brown leaves blending right in.

Then as quickly as the deer came, she is gone.

What once seemed dead and gone,

Proves me wrong again.

Hidden beneath the death is a world of living survivors.

Survivors living and thriving til another green day.

I will never be fooled again.

What appears dead can revive again!

Who knows what treasures live beneath the death.

Magical survivors that will appear another day!

Lori Rennae Hickman Chapman

Thank you so much for joining me this week.  I pray blessings for the path you are traveling and the death you survive this week.  This week as you examine the winter landscape, search for those survivors, and do the same in the scenarios along your journey.  Our lives can be so enriched from the composting of the dead if we are willing to stop and look! Live as a survivor this week!

Love,

Rennae

Journey