Violets in Snow

Robert Henry Newell (1836-1901) was an American magazine  humorist or satirist. He could laugh, poke fun, call out the ridiculous, see the bright side. He wrote:

Surely as comes the Winter, I know there are Spring violets under the snow. 

And here is  photograph of just such a violet. In flower symbolism, violets signify: "Let's take a chance on happiness." Can you feel it?Is that the violet's message here - little survivor of the single digit winter, poking its head up from under the ice, stretching for the light to see if the coast is clear and to share its bright yellow and delicately painted face? Taking a chance on happiness.

St. Therese of Lisieux lived in a French Carmel (1889-1897). Upon entering religious life she discovered the nuns to be elderly, odd or cranky, sickly or lukewarm. The flu epidemic took the lives of many of the sisters. The water in the wash basins froze; there was no electricity; the food was limited and of poor quality, the sisters suffered chilblains from the cold. Still, Therese chose to sit next to the sisters who were emotionally disturbed or irritable and wrote about herself, "I try to look on the bright side." 

A friend, recently returned from a trip abroad, had an airport layover where she noticed a cleaning lady standing outside the bathroom, gripping the mop and leaning with her chin on her hands. While she looked out at the stream of women coming and going, her eyes appeared vacant or exhausted.

Maybe she was thinking about when she could go home and put her feet up, or maybe she was worried that the children at home alone were okay, or how many more bathrooms she had yet to clean before she could call it a day, or how was she going to be able to pay the bills off her minimum wage. But no one stopped to greet her, let alone thank her for cleaning the toilets, but my friend who made eye contact, smiled and nodded to her.  The silent greeting was returned. 

"Let's take a chance on happiness," the violet suggests