Slow down, sit, and savor the beauty and wisdom of winter--around us and within.

Award-winning writer Marilyn McEntyre invites us into winter--when stars assume heightened significance and the ambient quiet of snowscapes (or fogscapes or rainscapes) stills us. Winter is quieter than other seasons, sometimes lonelier, and it opens us to pay attention. We may at first feel the ache of diminishment as days grow more silent, but even as melancholy befits winter, this season also bears its own fruit. In the precarious waiting and unknowing, we surrender to natural forces and rhythms; our lives may be changed utterly as we grow deeper, more patient, more attentive to what's outside our doors, in the night sky, or hibernating deep within ourselves.

Perhaps now is the time to grab that cup of tea, that warm mug of whatever brings you comfort and cheer, and with each sip engage the wisdom of winter, the poems, the reflections to make the long season richer, warmer. As the author writes, "We live with less when the world grows cold and quiet, but lessening is a lesson: we can live with less. We need the silences that allow us to hear small glass chimes. And simple warmth can offer an occasion to be grateful for small things."

In poems and life-affirming reflections on freedom, growth, quietude, and keenly felt hope, we learn to live in simple contentment. Without being saccharine, Midwinter Lightguides us to seek and find what we need, right where we are--a read for all walks of life that we can turn to again and again when we need to recenter.