When your feet are freezing in your boots and the cold has
permeated your winter layers settling like frost in your bones, there is a
lovely word for that moment when you feel the warmth of the sun on a winter’s
day – apricity, a word that has apparently
fallen into disuse and is now sadly obsolete.
I don’t enjoy winter. I don’t like the dark and I don’t like
the cold so any unexpected moment of catching warmth in the low lying sun’s
rays is a moment to relish. It is a reminder that the season will pass.
As poet Luci Shaw puts it in her poem ‘Faith’,
‘Spring is a promise in the closed
fist of a long winter.’
Springtime will come and there is nothing that winter can do
about it.
Even though your feet are frozen, your hands are numb and you
can’t feel a thing, look out for an opportunity to luxuriate in a moment’s
apricity. Feel the skeletal fingers of winter being prised open and let it be a
reminder that there is always hope.
Whatever is chilling your heart this season, turn your face
towards heaven and feel holy apricity enwrap your soul.
‘Because of God’s tender mercy, the
morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who
sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of
peace.’ Luke 1:78-79 (NLT)
