Advent Word/Day Eleven
I’ll admit I had to look up the definition of winnowing to refresh myself on its meaning. According to the Oxford English Dictionary:
win·now
/ˈwinō/ verb
gerund or present participle: winnowing
- blow a current of air through (grain) in order to remove the chaff. “a combine cuts, threshes, and winnows the grain in one operation”
- remove (chaff) from grain. “Women winnow the chaff from piles of unhusked rice”
- remove (people or things) from a group until only the best ones are left. “Guidelines that would help winnow out those not fit to be soldiers”
- find or identify (a valuable or useful part of something). “Amidst this welter of confusing signals, it’s difficult to winnow out the truth
- LITERARY(of the wind) blow. “The autumn wind winnowing its way through the grass”
- (of a bird) fan (the air) with its wings. “The emperors of the sky winnowing the air”
As I thought about the meaning of the word, I kept coming back to the thought that during this – as in every – holiday season I need to “winnow” my expectations and plans for the amount of activities I wish to plan and execute to ensure a properly celebrated holiday. It always comes back to the same thing for me – the desire to live in the moment and, be here now rather than constantly looking ahead to the next thing. At the same time, the Advent itself is a season of anticipation and looking forward. I suppose like everything in life, there is a balance that must be struck. In any event, I need to get back to winnowing that list!
-Karri Temple Brackett
December 7, 2022