January in California

I am enamored with January in California.

While friends around the world share pictures of snow or, much worse, inflamed cheeks frosted with icy eyelashes, here “green” has become a verb.

We watch, newly astonished, at the greening of our once crisp straw hills. Once dead lawns resurrect themselves, springing to life with tender green shoots like excited children at a theme park straining on tippy toes to measure tall enough for the ride. At a slower pace, scrappy flowers dare to flaunt their bright seasonal outfits. All without much water, as we are perennially in or at the edge of drought.

The new year waves open a door and abruptly our landscape turns technicolor.

January in California fills me with hope. If greening is possible, and every year it proves possible despite the circumstances, what else…?

Certainly hope is possible. Joy is possible. Kindness is possible. Healing is possible. Love is possible.

Dreams might yet be possible.

What possibilities do you hope and work toward?

Five Minute Friday & Hope*Writers prompt: POSSIBILITY

Published by Siv Ricketts

Hi, I'm Siv (pronounced "See-v") Ricketts, & I'm so glad you're here. In this space & on Instagram, I write to encourage you to have hope, seek beauty, and live joyfully. I have BA’s in English and Communication from Westmont College and an MDiv from Fuller Theological Seminary. I have focused my career working in and writing for the Church as a youth director, a communication director, and a freelance writer/editor. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area with my husband, two sons, and a menagerie of pets. You can also find me on Instagram (@sivricketts).

7 thoughts on “January in California”

  2. Loved learning about California at this time of year. We’ve a little while here in the UK before spring takes proper hold but one cyclamen is still in cerise bloom and my first daffodil is in early bud.
    God bless.
    Your FMF Neighbour #26

    Reply

    1. Hooray for cyclamen and daffodils! Our small town has been heavily planted with daffodils, with hundreds more every year. I’ve seen a few popping up early, yet in another month or so, all our roadways will be lined with them.

      Reply

  3. Pitbulls and green winter hills
    go together, don’t you think?
    Walk where rain-freshed brookling spills,
    and let them have a drink,
    and then walk with them up the slope
    to see what lies beyond,
    in the way that God’s own hope
    aligns to correspond
    with hills and valleys in our life,
    with heartbreak and delight,
    with the peace and numbing strife
    that keeps us wakeful through the night,
    so walk on in His loving laws,
    in the tracks of angels’ paws.

    Reply

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