“With the presence of great understanding and freedom in us, we can embrace hardships countless times without fear.”

– Thich Nhat Hanh

Around three in the morning, the massive evergreen branches, heavily laden with ice, began to fall. The ground shook with their impact. In the darkness, one could hear the shearing waves as the huge limbs stripped and toppled the smaller trees and branches below.

Dawn brought the visible reality of a changed landscape. Yet, as the sun climbed, a breathtakingly beautiful vision of a world encased in crystal emerged. Ruined trees were magnificent in their glittering cloaks of ice. Clinging to their severed branch were rosy-red dogwood buds. They were destined, not to emerge as delicate flowers, but to be frozen in time like tiny snow globes. Even the humble cattails, brown and rugged throughout the long winter, now wore crystalline cloaks.

Hardships take many forms. Weather events, interpersonal conflicts, challenges to our culture or way of life, could all be viewed as hardships. To embrace them with understanding and fearlessness is possible when we rely on the inherent goodness of life…this Hidden Wholeness, as Thomas Merton would say. We are called, not to react or push away or become judgmental. Embracing calls for holding close with care.

How would it be to embrace a hardship without fear?

– Betsy Schussler