Our Hope: After Winter Comes The Spring

‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.’ Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV)

Sometimes our lives seem like a never-ending winter.  Cold and dark, the days appear to be exactly the same, one after another, with no hope of warmth, or light of day.  We begin to feel like we are trapped in time, with no way to escape the clutches of the depression that can easily take root, causing us to lose the hope of a better day.

The winter in our lives can be the result of grief, disappointment, loss, even loneliness.  It has nothing really to do with the actual climate, or weather.  It is a state that our soul enters into when certain circumstances are present for any length of time.  If we allow it to, it will stretch out before us like an empty eternity, a desert like place that knows no end.  However, for most of us, winter is a temporary season, which will last only as long as it takes us to see it for what it is…a ploy from satan to come between us and our God.

Winter can be a time of emptiness or it can be a time of healing, of rest, of waiting on God.  Our perspective and our trust in the Lord can transform it into a time of regrouping, of counting our blessings, of being still and knowing He is God.  But the best thing about the winter is when we realize that even though it may be frigid and difficult, it is followed by the wonderful spring.

God never leaves us in one place for very long.  While our character, faith, and endurance will be tried and stretched while we are in winter, once we enter into the springtime all these things will blossom and grow.  Our souls transform from quiet existence as if in cocoons, to a sudden sprouting forth just like the beautiful butterflies experience.  As we leave one season and enter another, we find that all we gleaned in winter is still present in spring, but with the lovely touch of newness, rebirth, and hope that brings the warm waters and soft breezes into our days, signifying a peace long-awaited.

Take time this winter to evaluate where your soul is residing. Is it in a dark, dank, frightening place, or is it in a restful, expectant, and bountiful state?  Do you need assistance, someone to help you see past today, or are you content to simply wait, and allow God to move you on to the next season?  Jesus knows just where you are today and every day.  And He is ready to be the assistance you require to make it through the winter, or to be your comfort as you remain watchful and quietly wait for your spring.  He is Our Hope, and He knows our seasons much better than we ever will.  If we put all our hope and trust in Him, He will show us that after the winter comes the spring.  And with it, hope eternal is strengthened and renewed.

                                                                                           After the winter comes the spring

                                                                                         To show us again that in everything

There’s always renewal divinely planned

         Flawlessly perfect, the work of God’s hand.

Helen Steiner Rice

Blessings!