Two Things Winter Taught Me

Enjoy the Season. 

This morning I stared through the window above my kitchen sink, observing the new white dusting of snow on the hill across the neighbor’s field.

“I was thinking I might sled today,” I told my sister. “But then I looked at the thermometer and realized that it is negative six degrees. No thank you.”

My sister leaned against the sink. “But just a few years ago, it didn’t matter how cold it was: we all found reasons to be outside, chugging up that hill, sliding down it. We would do anything for fun.”

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. 

Prayer 

O Lord, You know that every life has its seasons, and that not all seasons are filled with light and warmth. But You have also made everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11), and placed a blessing in every curse. You have made one of the most dangerous and difficult seasons also one of the most unutterably beautiful and delightful seasons. It is in this season that we remember the birth of Your Son, celebrate the possibilities of a new year, and turn our eyes toward love, and the One who demonstrates it best. Is it winter in my soul? You have made it beautiful.