As I write this, it’s winter. A season that leads to hope. Winter begins with celebration. The leaves of Autumn have gone. The trees are bare and dark. In many ways they demonstrate our dark and lonely feelings about the long seasonal journey we call winter.
Winter technically begins on December twenty-first and lasts through February. Spring generally begins in March but that often depends on where you live.
Three months of winter and we think it will never end because it’s dreary and dark with clouds and little sun. But truly, Winter begins with celebration. The birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is celebrated four days after winter begins. (We can discuss the technicalities of that, later in a separate blog post) Then comes the New Year and we happily celebrate the coming of a new beginning. Through February we process the opportunities we have and regret the resolutions we’ve made. Now setting goals that can work getting started.
The end of winter comes with the anticipation of a warm spring and comes full circle in the hope of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord in early to mid-spring.
Winter doesn’t last forever, though it may feel like it does, and it often depresses us. It is a space in time where we should be or could be looking toward something greater than ourselves. This is a season of contemplation, discouragement, wonder and sometimes worry. When we think the world is crashing in on us, we can consider the words of Jesus:
“I have said these things to you, that in me you will have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” ~ John 16:33
No matter how long winter seems to us. Our Shepherd is walking with us through that long winter journey. He will bring us out of winter and into His marvelous spring. He has overcome anything you are suffering with. He has overcome all!
Look to Jesus who is “the founder and perfector of our faith” ~ Hebrews 12:2. Jesus is our magnificent hope in winter and through all the seasons He asks us to walk through.
Keep contemplating and pressing on because our Savior has overcome the world!
