When the snow falls

“The first candle is lit on her throne of lush green needles. Brightening the dark time for us in the early twilight, it warms our souls with its radiant glow. Ignited as a prayer of hope, it burns each evening. Until the four wishes are spoken over the earth and each candle carries the craving with its spark into the starry sky. Bless the world in Hope, Peace, Love and Joy.“

A smile crossed her lips as she read the lines. An uplifting thought that she liked to believe. All humans sharing their desires with each other. Isn’t that what makes us so unique? But how often in our lives do we forget those kind words and treat each other with resentment, just because we don’t know what’s going on in the other person’s mind?

She looked up from her book and out the window. The wind drove the white winter rain in uncontrollable dances until the flakes hit the ground, covering everything in a cold blanket. Only a few people walked through the snow, wrapped in thick clothes that made them almost unrecognisable. Where children used to play in the gardens in the evenings, there was now an untouched blanket of snow.

She remembered a winter when she was a child. The lightheartedness that came with being young and the unbridled enthusiasm for everything around her. The snow-covered landscape that seemed almost magical, telling a story in every breath of wind. The ice that lay like glass on the lake, making an almost mystical sound when you stepped on it, echoing throughout the lake. But when you grow up no one take the time to trudge through the snow, feeling it crunch under their shoes, without complaining directly about the cold.

Fairy lights hung from windows and trees, sparkling in the darkness, and illuminating the deserted street. The silence of the world awoke in this early darkness, and in this stillness all her memories and thoughts seemed so much louder than in other seasons. Loneliness weighed heavily on her shoulders.

Whenever the days got shorter, it was a feeling of being lost that came over her. A feeling that had been with her for a long time. In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it seemed to be obscured by all that the day brought. But now, as night fell over the world in the afternoon and silence enveloped everything, she was alone with her thoughts. It seemed as if something was missing, something she hadn’t found yet. It didn’t seem to be a part of her life yet, and yet she missed it. She didn’t feel alone or lost, just incomplete. Imperfect and with something that still missing in her heart. But what would come when she found it? She sighed; the answer wouldn’t be so easy to find.

She carefully placed the book on the small wooden table next to the armchair she had placed in front of the large window. Then she looked out again into the night, the snow covering the sleeping nature with an ever thicker blanket.

Was that what the first candle meant? Wishing that hope wouldn’t fade? The hope that one day she will be complete. The hope to know what she’s missing and to feel it when it’s in front of her. And that when the burden threatens to overwhelm, there is still hope for a better time.

The hope of never losing is something she wished for people. Everyone should have hope in their hearts. When things are difficult, it should glow like a spark in the heart and become a fire that engulfs everything in euphoria. So that you can carry on when you lack the strength. When worries threaten to smother the flame, let the embers of hope be rekindled. Like a fire that never dies.

The ringing of her phone interrupted her thoughts. The cheerful voice on the other end brightened the room; it was a friend she hadn’t heard from in a long time. They had a lot to talk about, and though it was rare, these moments were as if the daily grind had never come between them. It was these moments that kept her flame burning brightly. The little things that made the loneliness and the waiting bearable. They made her trust that everything happened as it was meant to, and that there was a time for everything.