BEFORE ME there’s a leafless tree, shining bare in the late winter sun. The branches are long, backlit in sunlight. The tree is beautiful, yet I wonder if its life is fading, its leaves falling one by one, or if this is a beginning.

​Does it know that spring is on the way, or does the winter cold feel like an end? We can’t ever know with certainty what’s around the corner. It may be more of the same. Winter may last long. But then, perhaps, spring. A new beginning.

​It feels like I, too, am on the threshold, and I just have to continue. All of life, no matter who we are, is stumbling forth into the unknown. Every second passed is a step toward death, yet nearer to light, the illumination of what we couldn’t understand before.

​If all of life was winter, what would we make of each cold day? The choice is ours to give up, give in to the uncertainty, or to dance in the rain.

​The rain begins to softly fall. It feels cold yet rejuvenating, like spring. It doesn’t matter where I am — at home or on the road; lost, or in line at the supermarket. I’m home in this spirit and this soul.

Life is a practice of continually letting go.

​Time won’t stop moving forward. Do I suppose I’ll be happy once I cross some threshold? It’s a new situation with new challenges, things to look forward to, different pains, more opportunities to practice patience. We can’t expect to be happy through it all.

​Happiness isn’t the point. The point, to me, is making something of the bare winter trees. I continue to pursue what gives my life meaning, and that’s enough. So I write, because it’s all beautiful. Not just what we do, but how we live. How we survive. Endure. Help each other make it through the day.

​The tree is bare because of time, what I’m so afraid of wasting. But I see the tree before me. I pause, taking a moment from my day to admire what’s both mundane and miraculous, a tree on the side of the road. I wonder if it knows that soon new leaves will bloom, perhaps more beautifully because of the rain. It glistens now, alive in the winter night.

​Sometimes I’m afraid that time means only loss. But think of all that’s gained — laughter between friends, fears conquered, wisdom gleaned from pain and tearing down our walls.

​Maybe I just need to pause. Slow. Let time unfold. I’m here to enjoy my life. Not caught up in the past or worried about the future. Just here. Eyes open. So I walk in the rain, breathing, watching how the rain falls from the dark green leaves. Be present; attend to the task at hand with a full heart, clear eyes, and a smile, and life will be full.

​Something good’s around the corner. Just keep moving forward.