Seemingly Unending Winter

OK.  I’ve had enough. 

I like to think of myself as a hardy Minnesotan but this is getting ridiculous.  I just got my car stuck in a drift and had to jack it up to get the snow out from under it (which shows the brilliance of attempting to drive a Prius through that drift).  My hands haven’t felt that cold all winter long.  The past few weeks have brought more snow that I’ve seen in years.  Huge mounds line the roads and parking lots.  It’s been all I can do to keep my driveway open.  For the first time I gave up on clearing it from edge to edge.  It just got too deep and heavy.  Snow days keep piling up.  At this rate the school year will never end, and if we miss one more day of school our Community Bible School will happen while school is in session!  If I didn’t know better I’d think it was the middle of January.  Winter just won’t give up.  It’s miserable out there!

I look at the calendar and see that today is the first day of spring.  Finally!  It’s time for new life to pop up all around us.  Here at Peace we planted all sorts of bulbs and perennials late last fall.  I’m excited to see what they look like when they come up!   Easter is a couple weeks away, and that means outdoor Easter Egg Hunts! 

My brain says spring but when I step outside my body disagrees!  Right now, my body is winning.  It’s nasty out there.  I’m beginning to doubt that spring will ever come.

Yet in the midst of this bitter cold, hints of spring have emerged.  The sun feels a bit warmer (when the wind isn’t blowing in my face) and it melts some of the snow off the asphalt.  The days have grown longer.  Birds have slowly come back to the area (though they’ve been hiding in warm spots lately).  These come as mere glimpses of spring, but they point to what is to come.  Winter can’t last forever.  It never has before…and it won’t do it again.  We’re not in C.S. Lewis’ Narnia where it was always winter (and never Christmas).

Spring is coming!  It may not show up exactly when I want it, but no amount of snow and cold will prevent its arrival.

There are times when life can feel as bleak as a bitter winter day.  It can seem like the dark times will never end.  Watching Shannon fight cancer for going on a decade now has been tough.  She’s a trooper, but some of the treatments have been quite miserable.   There is always anxiety about the future.  Some days the cares and pressures of the world seem too much.  They don’t seem to end.

I read my Bible and see that hope has arrived.   Every week I proclaim the God who has come among us in Jesus to conquer death and bring life forever.  I proclaim the God who refuses to abandon us, no matter where we go or what we do.  God keeps calling us back to Himself.

My brain and my mouth say hope, but sometimes my life disagrees.  That hope seems completely irrational. 

Yet in the midst of dark days hints of God’s spring emerge.  God works through someone bringing a meal to help us out.  I see the exciting things that God is doing at Peace.  I feel moments of comfort and peace.  A friend calls to see how I am doing.  These may come as mere glimpses of God at work among us, but they point to what is to come.  Winter can’t last forever.  New life is coming!

God comes!  I may not sense it exactly when I want it, but no amount of struggle and frustration can prevent God from working in this world.

In the church year things will soon look bleak.  This Sunday we complete Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem…and the cross.  Death will win as Jesus cries out in agony on the cross.  It will seem pretty dark and hopeless.

The cross is not the end of the story…the empty tomb is!  Easter is coming!  New life!  Death defeated forever!  Hope for all God’s people!

In the midst of dark days, we cling to that hope with our whole being.