Season of Green

Today it was 54 degrees here in Reston. It's supposed to be winter. We have three snow days built into the school calender, I'd really like to use them. Winter better get busy! Sure, we had a blast of cold last week, but the daffodils are up and the snowdrops are actually blooming. Come on, snow!

It is the green season of Epiphany in the Episcopal Church - the season between the gift-giving of the Magi and the looooong, contemplative purple season of Lent. It's when we rush through Jesus' youth to His baptism and then on to most of His walking-around ministry. The green vestments and altar hangings of the season are said to represent the green things of God's earth and refers to the growth of the spirit of God within us in response to Jesus' coming at Christmas. Most years I feel like the growth we are to experience in the Epiphany season does not mirror the cold, dormant weeks of winter. This year, though, the calendars are eerily in sync.

Nature's green is catching up with the church season's green. It makes me a little uneasy. Even as I worked tulips into the flower arrangements for the week, I was thinking that the next time I have flower duty it will be Lent and I won't be using flowers. We'll be in that thorny time before the glory of Easter. Guess I'd better hurry and grow in Epiphany - Jesus has a lot of work to do getting me ready for Lent. Maybe I can store up some "green" energy to make it through the rocky desert of temptation.