March is an aesthetically challenging month: the season of visual doldrums. As much as I thrill to see the first snowdrops and crocuses, in March the rest of the ground is bare, the monochrome earth unadorned with snow and the glaring sun unmitigated by sheltering leaves. Recent days have been been bright, but the light of March is harsh and unforgiving, carving shadows like slashes on the cold, hard ground. In March, my eyes have grown tired of days that are paradoxically bright and cold, and my very cells themselves feel starved for color more than contrast.
In checking my blog-archives for this time last year, I see I suffered the same affliction, taking pictures of shadows for lack of anything better to shoot. When I was new to blogging, I thought dry spells meant my creative juices were drying up for good: I hadn’t seen enough seasons to realize the way inspiration ebbs and flows in its own time.
These days, I know to keep walking, keep squinting, and keep shooting even through the glaringly monochrome days of March, trusting that both color and inspiration will return with the gentle days of spring.
Mar 11, 2010 at 6:00 am
For your interest………..
SHADOWS
A colleague got me thinking about ‘our shadows in leadership’.
We ambled with our grand children in the Autumn sun
Observing our long shadows walking and mimicking
That waved back, skipped, and hopped for fun
Distorted and silent, yet speaking.
I felt the warmth on my back,
But the shadows were cold, dark
And spectral projected on the track
Reflections leaving a symbolic mark.
I wondered about the shadows I cast
The effect of what I do and say
The unintentional, hurts of the past.
Lord, I ask you will make me more aware
Of shadows.
To reflect your light is my prayer.