Cold beauty
I love winter. Most of my friends don’t understand it, they are all warm weather, summer people. But I love the raw beauty of winter.
I was reminded of this yesterday when we had an ice storm. The roads were fairly clear, so my daughter and I went out for a drive. The day was gray, drearly. And ice hung to every tree branch and power line, mailbox and railing. As we drove down narrow streets, we both began to notice a total lack of color, at least what we tend to think of as color. There were no green leaves or yellow flowers. There was no blue in the sky.
But in the stark landscape, you could see God’s hand.
Look at the massive trees, covered with ice. Each tiny twig at the end of a branch perfectly coated with a thin sheath of ice. The gray of the sky was reflected in the ice. The thin coating gave everything a kind of ghostly appearance. The light coating of snow made sure that no green peeped up from the ground.
It’s so easy to look at the colors of spring or fall, or the warmth of summer, and rejoice in the beautiful world that God has given us. But the beauty of this earth doesn’t hibernate in the winter, it is still there.
I kind of draw a parallel between the cold of winter and the times of our lives when darkness descends, in the form of heartbreak, illness, death or some other heart-wrenching event. Our lives may turn cold with despair, and we may feel isolated, alone.
But God is there.
Life isn’t, and can’t be, all “happy happy, joy joy.” But when we are at our lowest, God is still with us.
That thought should keep us all warm on those cold winter days.
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