03/18/2026
"Let nothing disturb you,
Nothing frighten you;
All things are passing;
God never changes;
Patient endurance attains all things;
Whoever possesses God is wanting in nothing;
God alone suffices."
- Teresa of Avila
I wondered if the spring blooms felt "disturbed". Were they "frightened" of the unwanted, uninvited cold blast, blanketing their otherwise secured grounding? How unsettling for them. Their countenances drooped, bending low to notice only the icy white. I grieved for their waning survival.
But what of God? Where was He in this rogue, polar mess? I sat and pondered. And then I remembered....
If their bobbling heads, drooping and downcast with cold and weight, could only see white alone, He would still be 'there' - "...if I make my bed in the realm of the dead, You are there..." the psalmist says (139:8). God doesn't change no matter what mess surrounds me, enfolds me, covers me.
Patient endurance. These blooms have no other option. Patient endurance. They will know their Maker in the snow, as much as they could from a light spring rain. Patient endurance, yes. Oh, I feel this same option running like a terror through my own body. I wait. I invite His gaze in the terror...
I will consent. Patient endurance. God is in all things. ALL things. I consent.
Somehow, in the consent, these blooms want nothing more than His gaze reflecting back to them from their cold, snowy blanket. It seems to be enough. It can be enough. Yes, it is enough.
And for me, too.
God alone suffices. Amen.
