Exchange Winter Weariness for Crystal Treasures

Winter is wearying.  The struggles it brings weigh down our days.  The bleak landscape and destructive power of winter can overwhelm even hardy souls.  The secular world names winter discouragement, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). With the light of faith, though, winter produces treasures.  The crystals of ice and snow proclaim the glory of God.  The design of God includes winter–for the land and for us.  We can exchange winter weariness for crystal treasures.

The natural world proclaims spiritual truths.  Under the frozen surface, life waits to burst forth!  Deep in the soil, roots still absorb nourishment from the reservoirs of earth.  Above, beams from the winter sun continue aiding the process of photosynthesis.  Strength increases as growth slows in the chill of winter.  The design of God works the same in you and me.  Winter weariness is a deception from the devil; Jesus came to destroy such work!  The treasures of winter await our discovery.

 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.
(Proverbs 25:2)

 Treasures hide in plain sight, but we must seek them if we are to enjoy them.  Missing them will not prevent them—spring will come even if we spend the entire winter moaning about what we see instead of what is to be.  Before God gave Moses the pattern for the Tabernacle—the place His presence would dwell, Moses sat in a cloud for six days waiting on God.

“If only it were six days that I had to wait,” you may be saying.  Perhaps it has been weeks—maybe even months or years that you have waited on the Lord.  Do not quit.  Six days is symbolic.  It is the number of man, the number of days for Creation.  God is at work creating perfection while you wait.  His timing really is divine!

The revelations of nature are like word pictures for us to grasp.  Buds under the ice remind us of promise.  Mighty trees ready to blossom push their roots farther into the soil.  Looking for—and believing–those words pictures requires effort and commitment.  Digging into nature yields winter treasures—and prepares us to dig for even greater glories.  Seek out the object lessons hidden in the depths and share them with others!

Treasures are waiting in the quiet of winter, in the depths of Scripture.  Where will you dig first?