Release and Renewal

 This was once someone's nursery nestled in the branches of some sumac, and now decorated with seedpods of some kind of wild vine.

Even though I walk past it every day, I did not notice it until a few weeks ago when snow piled inside it.

As with all nurseries, the babies have fledged and it has been abandoned. It served it's purpose and was released by the inhabitants. I hope they are living abundant, healthy lives.

The nest is a remnant of the past spring and summer. The parent birds and their young knew when it was time to let go of the nursery and move on.

Humans aren't always that intelligent. We often cling to things that are no longer useful to us out of an emotional attachments. We leave our children's rooms untouched in memory of their childhoods, although the children are building their own nests. We cling to things, habits, relationships, and so on because feel that brings security, stability, comfort.... even when they have deteriorated and/or no longer serve us.

But we fail to grow. We fail to make new relationships. We fail to learn. We fail to succeed because the old ways don't work any more (or maybe never did).

Every day I do a ritual in which I release all that does not serve me. That doesn't mean I don't still cling to things out of comfort and security, but I'm learning, I'm growing, I'm letting go. I free myself of those burdens so I can move on.

For the past couple of years I've faced at least the possibility of needing to release some things that are extremely important to me. Some no longer serve. Some may still serve, but that may change. It's a difficult transition.

In the process of release, however, I find renewal. A new way of living, a new way of being, maybe a new place to live. We'll see. I am not certain what this coming year will bring. I am learning to live with that uncertainty. It's an uncomfortable place for me... uncertainty.

I am certain, though, that I will survive. I will thrive. Whatever renewal I must experience will serve me, and those close to me.

I look around me and see signs of renewal. Green tips of crocus leaves have pushed their way out of the soil. Birds sing mating songs. The builders and former occupants of the nest seek out new places to build, that will serve them and their offspring through the warm months.

Release and renewal are as natural as the rising and setting of the sun. 

So I take my lesson from the birds that built this nest. I let go of the seasons past, and open my arms to the coming of Spring, whatever it brings.