
The bottom of my feet are burning from the aching cold outside. This seems contradictory and weird but let me assure you … the pain is like fire. When I have to get up to do laundry, go to the bathroom, or make dinner, it feels like I’m walking on needles. Which doesn’t help the attitude of gratitude. No amount of lotion seems to help. The bitter cold has settled down deep into the bones of my body and now my feet are in protest.
This winter has been brutal compared to the last few I’ve experienced in Chicagoland (especially for this southwest, California girl). The same two to three inches of snow that fell a few days ago sits perfectly blanketed over the earth. Subzero winds and frost help it to remain unscathed, not a wrinkle in time. There's a new snowman that sits out front in plain view of my window. He was recently constructed by the neighbor kids and stands a whopping 8 feet tall. He greets me in jest every morning. The snowman smiles because it’s 0° outside and it looks like he’ll be here for a while.
I’m in the post-Christmas, middle-of-January winter phase. Where daydreams of corn-on-the-cob, hamburgers on the grill, and walking outside in shorts are starting to take place. It’s funny because when I used to live in California and Arizona, I dreamed of fall and winter when it was 100 degrees outside under an unrelenting heatwave. Now that I live in the Midwest, I long for spring and summer during the long, dark winter months.
We are funny humans, always wanting what is not here.
Can we ever be fully satisfied?
It turns out that Scripture has a lot to say about a flourishing soul …
“How well God must like you— you don’t walk in the ruts of those blind-as-bats, you don’t stand with the good-for-nothings, you don’t take your seat among the know-it-alls. Instead, you thrill to God’s Word, you chew on Scripture day and night. You’re a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month, never dropping a leaf, always in blossom.” Psalm 1:1-3 (MSG).
The New Living Translation describes this vibrant person as “bearing fruit each season” where they prosper in all they do.
Huh.
So, I open my curtains and fix my eyes on the snow. I watch the way the sun glistens off its crystalized particles. It’s enchantingly bright and beautiful. The frigid cold doesn’t seem to stop the birds from singing, dancing, and twirling. And I begin to pray and ask God …
What fruit do you long for me to bear?
Can I blossom in the middle of the cold?
I’ve always been told that winter is the time for pruning and cutting things back. To burrow and bear down. But maybe, right in the thick, snow-drenched season of winter, God has a good work for me to accomplish. A purpose. To grow, to be strengthened, to endure.
I’ve been doing winter walks for the first time ever in my life. And while my face hurts sometimes, I told my therapist that I’ve seen beauty, awe, and wonder in this world that I’ve never quite experienced before. It’s different but so good. The bundling of my coat, the beanie on my head, and the search for God deep in the mystery of winter have helped me experience Him in such an intimate way. A different more resilient way.
I'm not sure what season in life you find yourself in, but I've learned that we can be a tree replanted in Eden if we allow God's Spirit to change us and let us grow. Pruning is key, but growth is promised. He watches over those who love Him and seek Him with all their heart.
Thrill to God’s Word, chew on Scripture, and delight in Him, my friends. He will produce in you a harvest, even in the middle of cold winter nights. A work in your life so mighty and glorious, because of His power, that you won't be able to not joyfully give Him praise. Just like those birds dancing in the winter sky.
“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of Light.”
Colossians 1:10-12 (NIV)
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