One kind word

"One kind word can warm three winter months."

--Japanese proverb

Every winter

"Every winter,
When the great sun has turned his face away,
The earth goes down into a vale of grief,
And fasts, and weeps, and shrouds herself in sables,
Leaving her wedding-garlands to decay--
Then leaps in spring to his returning kisses. "

--Charles Kingsley in Saint's Tragedy (Act III, Scene 1)

Blessing

"When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.”

--C. S. Lewis

The Legend of the Christmas Rose

The Christmas Rose Story


When the Magi laid their rich offerings of myrrh, frankincense, and gold, by the bed of the sleeping Christ Child, legend says that a shepherd maiden stood outside the door quietly weeping.

She, too, had sought the Christ Child. She, too, desired to bring him gifts. But she had nothing to offer, for she was very poor indeed. In vain she had searched the countryside over for one little flower to bring Him, but she could find neither bloom nor leaf, for the winter had been cold.

And as she stood there weeping, an angel who just happened to be passing saw her sorrow, and brushed aside the snow at her feet. And there sprang up on the spot a cluster of beautiful winter roses, waxen white with pink tipped petals.

Not exactly myrrh, nor frankincense, nor gold, said the angel, but there is nothing more beautiful for the Christ Child than these pure Christmas roses.

Joyfully the shepherd maiden gathered the roses and made her offering of a Christmas gift of roses to the Holy Child.

(A blessed little Christmas to you all on this Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord and the first anniversary of A Trail of Flowers:  thank you for following,  and may Almighty God guide you every step of the way.)  

Miracles

"Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see."

--C.S. Lewis

Dream a new dream

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

--C. S. Lewis

True love

"When one loves, one does not calculate."

--Saint Therese of Lisieux

(On this Octave day of the Feast of Saint John, the beloved disciple,  I wish you the incalculable love which only Love can give.)