THE WINTERS OF MY LIFE

It is winter.
Trees are stripped and bare.
Now I can see through the woods tracks of deer and rabbit on the new fallen snow.
Trees create shadows on the glistening whiteness as far as my eyes can see.
I discover beauty not glimpsed before.

I am aware of the winters in my life:
Barren, empty, exposed uncluttered a stripped and naked spirit.

But also a chance to see new spaces contemplate realities unnoticed before.
Possibilities discovered vision stretched, deepened.
Understandings clarified, broadened.
New loveliness perceived for the first time.

Rita Bonneprise is a Sister of St. Joseph. She lives at Villa St. Vincent in Crookston, Minn., but has ministered in other places in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and New York. Most of her ministry years have been in teaching, school administration, adult religious education, prayer, and spirituality. Sr. Rita also counseled adults in the Hmong community, at drug and alcohol centers, and to prison parolees. Those she has served have inspired her works. Her book, “New Horizons Into Midlife and Beyond,” was made possible with a gift from Benedictine Health System’s Making Dreams Come True Program and subsequently sold out.