Color in Winter

Photo courtesy of LaDonna Jennings

I love winter.  I'm sorry if you don't, and yet live in the same town as me.  When I hear weather reports with snow in the forecast, I begin praying and asking God to dump it here!  The colder the weather, the more energized I am!  My perfect winter day would include me sitting in a clean house by a picture window in a comfy chair while wrapped up in something warm and soft in front of a fire in the fireplace, thick snow coming down like huge feathers, reading a good book, smelling a delicious candle, drinking my favorite flavored coffee and crunching on something chocolate.  (Too detailed?  And I know it doesn't sound like I'm very energized in this scenario--except the clean house bit!)  I know many don't like winter...and I understand why.  My dad was a letter carrier and he hated delivering mail in the cold.  And I have a friend who suffers from seasonal affective disorder (SAD)--or a lack of sunlight--which brings about severe depression.  I know mommies dread having kids shut inside with no deliverance in sight.  So I understand why others don't appreciate the dark days, the cold, and the snow.

But even if you don't love the dark days, the cold, and the snow, don't you love looking outside and seeing a dot of color God has placed in the midst of the bleakness?  It gives hope.  Hope that in our darkest hour, God will take care of us.  This beautiful bird has done nothing.  It hasn't planted crops, it hasn't gathered food into a barn...but God feeds it.  God has promised the same for you and me.  Whether it's physical, emotional, or spiritual provision...He has it.  And it's more than enough.  You don't have to work for it...you just have to open yourself to the One who owns it all.

If you're walking through a winter not determined by a season, but by circumstances out of your control, God wants you to know He's enough.  He is all you need.  I'm praying you see a dot of color in your winter soon--to fill your heart with hope.