A New Perspective On Winter

It's a new year and I started a new devotional. Well, actually, it's an old devotional by Chuck Swindoll called Seasons of Life. I discovered him back in the 90's when I was in college. Back then I read a lot by him. Over the years I kind of just stopped..no real reason why and that's exactly why I'm writing today.

The topic of the devotion I read this morning was finishing well or finishing what you start. I was challenged to think of something I had stopped doing. It was an easy choice. I had stopped writing. No real reason why. I can't help but think that it has something to do with the "season" that the book starts with...Winter. Friends, I really, really, really don't like Winter!!!!!!! Never really have. Cold, gloomy, dark, tired, and generally brings out the sad in me. Not things that I enjoy. But in the book Mr. Swindoll calls it "a season of reverence". Huh?! The dictionary defines reverence as, "a deep respect for someone or something." That is certainly NOT how I feel about Winter! But after I read the first page I was hooked.....

"Winter....the ideal occasion to slow down. To invest a few extra hours in quiet reverence."
"Is it Winter in your soul? Are you feeling depressed, alone, overlooked, spiritually on "hold", cold, barren?" Beginning to wonder if your soul will ever thaw? Wondering where God may have gone...."
"Winter always comes and winter always passes."
"When this winter season ends, you'll be wiser, deeper, stronger. Therefore, in reverence, look up. Be still and discover anew that He is God."

I want to do that. I want to finish the things that I have started and I want to finish them well even when the sky is grey and the things may be monotonous. I want to find Jesus in the most ordinary day and encourage others to do the same. I am determined to find joy in my spirit even when the sun isn't shining.......I want these things, but if they don't happen I know this for certain.....it isn't because God isn't still God or that He has stopped working. It's because I chose not to see. I chose not to look up. I chose to not be still. I chose to not keep going forward. I chose to stay out in the cold.

"Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary." Galatians 6:9
"Therefore, be steadfast, immovable. Your toil is not in vain in the Lord!" 1 Corinthians 15:58

Happy Winter!!!!!

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