In Winter… Your Invincible Summer
Hanging above the ice-chip-carpeted case of turkey necks and chicken wings at my local farmer’s market, a whiteboard featured a hand written quote from Albert Camus.
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”
The words struck me, for in these days of piercing moonlight and blinding sunshine, the freezing and the thawing, salt sprays and shovel scrapes, I am experiencing the post-holiday reset. My holiday resolution efforts are stuck somewhere between the glory and the horror of the poultry display case where fresh abundance meets slaughtered life and peaches and cream colored flesh nestled in crystal clear ice is delivered in a bright light, bleached-white presentation. Those turkeys and chickens have nothing left of summer or winter for that matter, but we do.
In our winter we have an invincible summer that we can call forth to warm our frosted hopes and freezer-burned expectations. It’s hard to look out on a snow-covered landscape and recognize the progress that is always, albeit imperceptibly, inching forward deep within. So many things take so much longer than we want them to.
I purchased turkey parts to make a winter soup, but I feel the invincible summer of the person I am becoming beckoning to me to make fruit and vegetables the primary focus of my diet. Something about the produce counter, absent of any thought-inspiring quotes from Albert Camus, lush with color and texture excites me. What excites you? What really excites you from the depths of your invincible summer?
Nourish Your Mind, Body, & Soul with Goodness 