It made me remember something I’ve said for years: Adults don’t like winter because they no longer play in it. The few times when I’ve laid aside my grown-up duties and simply romped in the snow with my younger siblings, I’ve experienced the liberation and exuberance of childish fun. Yes, the air is brutally cold. Yes, my fingers are frozen and my nose is blue. But winter suddenly became beautiful and sparkling again. I do the same thing in my life. The winter seasons of my life come, with their disappointments and discomfort, and I forget that the winter can be beautiful. I see the coldness of my spirit, and am blind to the dance of a thousand rainbows of promise on the snow. I long for stronger Son-light and longer days, and miss the glitter of a billion stars that God has sent to light my way and show me beauty. I grumble about my inability to remain warm, and I forget that enjoying the unique activities of this winter season is the key to staying warm. Relish the Quiet.“I miss winter,” said a man who lives in the Deep South. “Where I live, life continues on at the same pace. Winter and summer have the same hurry of life. But in a northern winter, it is like the whole world stops to rest.” Some nights I have returned home to step out of my car into a soft snowfall. Not a breath of wind stirs, and the hush of a chapel falls upon the sleeping earth. The silence is so profound that it almost seems like a song. The world rests—and I rest with it. It is easy, in the winter seasons of the soul, to see only the halt of all activities. When my health forced me to stop working a normal 40-hour week, and at times gave me no option but to lie in bed and hover between waking and sleeping, it was easy to be angry with this “winter time.” I wanted the color of spring, the activity of summer, and the ripe fruits of autumn. But God showed me that my soul’s winter was an immense gift. It was the quiet rest after a season of fruitfulness. It was the refreshing in preparation for something greater.
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Meet YaashaNone of my life has gone the way it was "supposed to go," but I don't love my life any less because of the hardships and new directions. I see so much unexpected good in it, and I want others to see the good in theirs. Archives
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