Stowing Away

[Beautiful Future - IX]

Winter is about slowing down and stowing.

We stow away our garden harvest in jars.
Animals do the same, stowing nuts and berries in trees.
Even the ground stows seeds away for later.

In those Mason jars is all the energy of summer growth, preserved for long, grey, cold days.

Hidden in trees is the captured nourishment of summer that sustains animals for months.

Tucked away in the cold soil awaits all the effort from last year, in the form of seeds.

We—you and me, the squirrels, even the trees—by nature capture the energy of summer, stow it away, that we might burst forth in the spring. Rested. Energized. Nourished and strong.

What have we stowed away that will nourish us through these grey months and burst forth with life come spring?

What experiences, lessons, insights, and ideas will you sit with, ruminate on, and eventually offer the world when spring breaks open?