This is a book for those whose life is in a state of change, who wait—not for a clearly defined outcome-but unsure of where they are going or where they may be taken. Often the need for change emerges within one of life's transitional periods: the early years of parenthood, ill-health, unemployment, redundancy, retirement, separation, divorce, or bereavement. These are those whom Donald Eadie calls "Saturday People," people in a wide variety of circumstances learning what it can mean to wait within a sustained, bewildering, or messy period of transition. There is a long Saturday between the Friday of crucifixion and the Sunday of resurrection.
Periods of transition, particularly when we are in pain or distress, are no time for easy answers or religious clichés. Sustenance of a different kind is needed, coming from deep roots and underground streams. Grain in Winter offers a series of meditations and seed thoughts for those who find the waiting hard.