Then There was Snow

At the moment it is 7 degrees outside in Grove City, Pennsylvania. And it's only going to get colder.

At the moment there are quite a few inches of snow on the ground in Grove City, Pennsylvania.  And it's only going to pile deeper.

And everything in me wants to complain and wish for spring despite the fact that it's January 27th and as we all know, spring is almost always fashionably late here.

But somehow, something in me wants to look out the window and smile because it IS beautiful.  It IS wonderful.  It IS amazing.  Even though we've had enough.  Even though it's cold.  Even though we have to shovel our driveways.

Because humans have this strange ability to only see the bad when they're looking right at a fountain of good.

I do this all the time. I mistake full for empty, love for flattery, silence for indifference, neediness for hypocrisy, and the list goes on.

And personally, I don't like winter.  I don't like the fact that it's going to be -23 degrees tonight.  Or the fact that I know it will still be snowing in March.  Or that the worst month of the year - February - is creeping up faster than we think.

But I don't want to just grit my teeth and get through it.  Because if I keep doing that my life will be over before I know it and all I will be able to say I did is "survive".

Don't you want more than that?

To string all of these half-formed thoughts into a somewhat-whole one, what I want to say is this.  I sometimes hate winter.  And snow.  And cold.  But God created this season just like every other, and He wants so much more for us than to just get through these grueling 3 (or 4...or 5) months.

He wants us to see the beauty.  Even if the beauty is in the hope.  Even if the hope is in spring.

But looking outside, even as I write this, my heart sinks a little, thinking, will the cold ever end?  Because looking at the frozen world now, I can't imagine it being green again.

This frozen world is our fountain of blessings.  Each day, each hour, each season of our lives come with their own blessings and their own trials.  God gives us a choice.  He doesn't say "suck it up and get through".  He doesn't say "love every moment with a sunny smile on your face".

He simply asks us to see it as a blessing,
see it as a promise,
see it as hope.

"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."

~Romans 12:12

...Love, Anna...