ENDURING THE GRAY

At times I seem to be stuck in neutral. Nothing exciting is happening. I am going through responsible routines but marking time, not getting anywhere. The days are mundane, unremarkable, static. Nothing seems to change. So much of life is actually made up of, to all appearances, humdrum sameness. 

Nature sometimes echoes my monotony, especially the in-between-seasons times when nature seems to be too slow in changing her clothes. I trudge along in drab, colorless days that I didn't invite but must endure. They are gray days—and I feel gray too. Gray is defined as “a color between white and black, having a neutral hue, dark, dismal, gloomy, indeterminate, intermediate in character.” That describes my emotional disposition at times. 

But gray days eventually evolve into brightness if I patiently endure them, seek to uncover their beauty, and attempt to understand the purpose for which God sends them. Gray days can pour welcome peace into my soul and trickle contentment into my restless heart. They can provide a breather and a respite to prepare me for the big bangs of change and extremes which are sure to come upon me with the inevitable storms that will beat upon my life-house.

GRAY DAYS UNINVITED

Gray days, uninvited, slip in
between winter and spring
and bring gray moods
and mental monotones.
Snow birds chirp in muted notes.
The season seems suspended
with winter open-ended.

Drab days endured
with passive acceptance
will always pass. I know
the cycle is ordained:
gray, in-between days are always
followed by The Grand Spectacle of spring
when the somber draperies of the sky
are suddenly drawn back
and songbirds warble cheerily
heralding the splendid season
and the inevitable renewal
of every living thing.

My soul, too, passes through
gray times, ordinary times

waiting and mediocre times
shrouding me in melancholy and
a certain sadness
fogging my thoughts
tempting me to despair.
 
Shall I not embrace
transient times which test me?
I shall welcome them, assured
that my soul is being fortified
by the days in between

the gray days uninvited.
Mellowed and molded
my spirit patiently awaits the time
when the dismal winterness of my soul
is dispelled again
by sunshine!