In your Wintering, Peace

A Blessing for your Wintering

“Wintering”

Dear friend and fellow traveler,

It is winter wonderland outside. Minnesota winter has arrived with freezing temperatures and snow, lots of it. The ice crystals on the windowpane are glimmering in the wan winter sun. The garden has frozen into still life. Nature has gone into its long-awaited winter sleep.

Trees have emptied themselves and now stand tall and bare. Do they not mind? Did they simply let go once their season was done?

I am never quite sure how to feel about winter when it arrives. In our hemisphere, winter accompanies Advent — a season of waiting for new life to come.

Thus “wintering” is also an invitation.

Of letting go of the old season and of getting some rest.

Of leaving what is undone, undone
and of turning inside.

Wintering is an invitation into solitude.

Of retreating and deepening

and gathering our energy for the longer days to come.

Don’t we all long for days inside, where a warm place is all we need and treasure?

A retreat, where the noise of the world is covered under the frozen leaves of the last season?

A sanctuary, where life’s rhythm follows only the swift rising and setting of the shy sun through the frozen window pane?

In last week’s blessing I wrote about finding beauty in the broken pieces, a quiet contemplation of the present moment, through the eyes of a child.

This week I want to offer you two things, may be even three. A song, a poem, and a humble St. Nicholas gift at the end.

Sanctuary

The great Carrie Newcomer wrote this beautiful song in 2016 for all who feel heartbroken. I often have taken refuge in her words and music since then.

Will you be my my refuge

my haven in the storm

will you keep the embers warm

when my fire is all but gone?

Will you remember,

and bring me sprigs of rosmary

be my sanctuary

until I can carry on?

I hope the Cloister, this community of fellow pilgrims, can be such a sanctuary for us. A place where there is always someone who can keep the embers warm when someone’s fire is all but gone.

A sanctuary where our words and our stumbling can hold each other until we can carry on. And a journey where we can experience and participate in the peace of the indwelling Divine we so wish for this world.

Here is the second gift for you today, my humble winter solitude blessing:

in your wintering

peace

in your waking

peace

in your walking

peace

in your worrying

peace

in your longing

peace

in your waiting

peace

in your stillness

peace

in your enfolding

peace

in your wintering

peace.

AF

May peace abound in you indeed.

Oh, and before you go here is the third thing:

Dec 6 was St Nikolaus day in Germany. It is when we celebrate the good deeds of Bishop Saint Nikolaus by sneaking sweet treats into each other’s shoes overnight. And since I buried this Nikolaus gift so deep in our last Cloister Note, here it is again:

✨ Before the new year brings a gentle increase to our subscription price, you can still join us at the Original Cloister Rate and lock this price in for as long as your subscription stays active.

And because St. Nikolaus always left a little sweetness in our shoes:

✨ Until December 15, you may take an additional 10% off that original rate.
A humble Nikolaus blessing to thank you for walking this road with us from the beginning.

That means for a little over five bucks a month (annual plan) you can become a paid subscriber of these Cloister Notes and part of this growing community of seekers on the deeper way.

It will also give you entry to our upcoming 12 Days of Christmas Contemplations, our online journey to Bethlehem with-in (see below).

I look forward to journeying with you through this sacred time,

Almut

P.S. If you can, leave us a comment with a word or line that moved your heart today. Thank you.

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Previous Cloister Notes

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A Saint Nikolaus Gift. Building the Cloister together

Trying to catch the wind

A Blessing seeking you.

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🕯️ Join Us at The Cloister

Clicking on the banner brings you to our 12 Days Archive.

» The 12 Days of Christmas Contemplations

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What if Christmas isn’t a season but a journey?

Have you ever wondered what the twelve days of Christmas are about other than a silly song?

We have.

Eight years ago we decided to take time off every day to ponder each of them in our 12 Days of Christmas Contemplations. Since then we have grown into a communion of fellow pilgrims across the globe journeying together through this sacred time.

The ones who stumble into Christmas tired to the bone,
the ones who doubt,
the ones who carry others,
the ones who long for a small light in the dark…

As a paid subscriber you will receive each day a brief contemplation — a quiet Christmas gift arriving in your inbox. You will become part of a Communion of kindred pilgrims searching for the living light.

And you will walk with us through this threshold time where the old and the new year meet and all the way to Epiphany to find Divine wisdom within.

If you’re already on our list (yay!), you’re warmly invited to bring someone along who needs this kind of journey.

And if you’d like to look back, you can (re)visit our 12 Days Archive here.

I am so looking forward to walk with you through this sacred time!