By the window where I often sit is a cactus. It sprawls beside me, inert for most of the year.

As the nights draw in, the rain and cold seep into your bones and the world seems to shrink.

Look closely though and a few fonds are turning a little more green. Then buds start to form.

As life goes into hibernation, these buds turn pink and, over many days, bloom into flowers. Every year it shines its light only when other lights are diminished.

It reminds me that, when our own world can seem stuck in everlasting winter, there is hope and renewal.