The snail’s on the thorn:

God’s in his heaven–

All’s right with the world!

–Robert Browning, Romantic poet, “Pippa Passes,” 1841

I read on Facebook recently that “some people will not be comforted by the mention of God.” The mention of God, in fact, is apparently irritating to some people. I can’t stop thinking about this.

Words and phrases keep coming to mind. God is famously omnipresent; God is everywhere. He (she?) is an integral part of our culture and the cultures of millions of people around the world. For this reason, regardless of our religious beliefs or lack thereof, and whatever our personal preferences may be, we are not going to escape hearing God mentioned.

“Goodbye” is the shortened form of the original “God be with you.” When someone sneezes, the automatic response “Bless you!” is short for “God bless you.”

Here are some more common references to the Almighty:

God’s will, act of God, Godspeed, God willing and the creek don’t rise, TGIF, as God is my witness, in God we trust, God bless America, with God on our side, to play God, cleanliness is next to godliness, Godless, God forsaken, ungodly, what in God’s name, God almighty, for God’s sake, by God, God forbid, God only knows, Let go and let God, God helps those who help themselves, By the grace of God, God fearing, God’s gift to women, God’s country, God’s green earth, Good God!, honest to God, so help me god, put the fear of God into him, what in God’s name, godawful.

There are curses, and then there are minced oaths — words and phrases, often humorous, derived from phrases that “take the Lord’s name in vain,” such as golly and dagnabit.

From my own experience dealing with grief I know that remarks or actions by well-meaning people offering solace can be upsetting, even infuriating. My reactions sometimes seemed random and unpredictable even to myself. Often, the less said the better.

The bereaved don’t want to hear “It was God’s will” or “God works in mysterious ways” any more than they want to hear that their loss is the result of their own “poor choices,” which is as bad as being told that their tragedy is a judgment by the Almighty. Still, there is no way anyone is going to push the name of God out of everyday parlance.

Don’t forget to wear your layers! Jan. 19 is St. Agnes Eve, according to legend, the coldest day of the year. As John Keats wrote in his poem “The Eve of St. Agnes:” St. Agnes’ Eve–Ah, bitter chill it was! /The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold; /The hare limp’d trembling through the frozen grass, /And silent was the flock in woolly fold.”

St. Agnes is the patron saint of chastity, girls, engaged couples, rape survivors, virgins, Girl Scouts and gardeners. Gardeners?

I can understand how the coldest days of the year relate to us gardeners. The dark and cold make us dream of spring and summer. The hard work of planting and digging and hauling compost are forgotten or at the least minimized in our minds as we leaf through our seed catalogs or browse tomato varieties on line. I have never been able to harvest more than two tomatoes in a season here in the North Country, and many years fewer. I have given up on growing tomatoes — but I still think about it in January.

Are you still following, or at least working at, your New Year’s resolutions? I still make them every year, and from year to year they are pretty much the same. Here’s what I wrote back in 2015: “New beginnings are hopeful, I find. Even as I make fun of New Year’s resolutions every year, I am secretly working up my own list.”

If only resolving to do better were enough. I wish that every year. In February, as I find my resolve slipping, I ask myself, “Back in December, when you made these resolutions, just who did you think you would be in the coming year?”

Hard to make a silk purse from a sow’s ear, especially as we become more set in our ways, but still, this might just be the year. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. And I successfully quit smoking years ago, so that gives me hope.

Should I send off for tomato seeds?

May the force be with you, and have a good week.