In Like a Lion

The phrase, "In like a lion, out like a lamb," has its origins with the constellations Leo, the Lion, and Aries, the ram or lamb. It has to do with the relative positions of these constellations in the sky at the beginning and end of the month of March.

Ours is running true to form, as the last February snow began Thursday and continued through Saturday. It was a typical late winter snow--large white, wet flakes many of which melted as they hit the roads, but also clung to tree limbs and bushes turning our grey, dirty old snow world into a beautiful one. One of the sisters remarked at lunch, when the snow was falling beautifully, "This reminds me of those perfect snow scenes in the movie White Christmas." And it did, except ours was absolutely real, not Hollywood produced!

It is also a "week of preparation" as the pieces for our annual March art show are being hung for the opening next Sunday. Also next weekend the collegians from Ohio Wesleyan arrive for their week of Spring Break Service. From the schedule I saw, they will have a wide variety of experiences in both our ministries outside the Mount and within it. And finally, the first "regular" guests are arriving beginning today, as our 15 guest rooms and 3 hermitages are all spruced up, complete with a new hospitality and information book and other donated spirituality books in each room for our most-welcome and greatly-missed visitors.