Baby, It's Cold Out Side

My Granny had a saying for most things. One I heard all of the time was, "I am cold to the bone!" My family used to call me Granny because I carried a sweater or jacket wherever I went. The grocery store, movies and some restaurants are freezing. It is not often that I complain about being cold because you can always put more on. I tend to be hot flashing and there are times you cannot take more off! On occasion, I have been cold to the bone and usually that is a damp cold. And there is no warming up - you have to go home and put your warmest pajamas, sit in front of the fire and sit under a blanket. Today may be that day!

The good news: Spring! All things fresh and new! That is what I am looking forward to. Ecclesiastes 3: 11, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." I enjoy all of the seasons but summer is my favorite - I need to be able to get in some salt water! And not a salt water pool! I enjoy winter clothes. I get excited to see snow if it does not hang around. I do not like the time change when it gets dark so early. I get excited for Christmas but after that I am ready for spring.

We need winter because good comes from it. The cold kills things in the ground to prepare it for new seeds and new growth. The cold kills our mosquitoes which is necessary here! Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."

Only winter can produce the beauty of snow. I think there is great beauty in the trees during an ice storm. We also have winter "seasons" in our life. Most people refer to the winter season as one of hardship, trials and pain. Even Scriptures compare our lives to seasons. The psalmist, Asaph, writes in Psalm 74: 17, "You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter."

We are to thank God for the hard times - for the winter season of our lives. It is in the tough times that we grow. Colossians 1: 24, "Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church." Peter says in 1 Peter 4: 13-16, "But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.  If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.  If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name." James writes in James 1: 2, "Consider it pure joy when you face trials of various kinds."

A deep freeze is needed to heighten water tables from snow for the harvest seasons. In life we also need winter seasons to bear fruit!