Comes the Winter..

                  'I see that all the seasons are to be found in your soul; 

                  for at one time you feel the winter of sterility, 

                  distractions, disgust, and weariness; 

                  at another time the dews of the month of May, 

                  with the odour of the holy little flowers....  

                  In heaven it shall be all a springtime of beauty, 

                  all an autumn of enjoyment, 

                  all a summer of love.  

                  Winter there shall be none;

                  but here winter is necessary 

                  for the exercise of abnegation 

                  and of the thousand beautiful little virtues 

                  which are practiced in the time of barrenness.  

                  Let us keep on always at a quiet little pace...' 

                        St. Francis de Sales, letter to St. Jane de Chantal

                        Painting:  Jules Breton, Last Flowers, in US  public domain