It is mid-February. It has been brutally cold. We’ve had what feels like more than our fair share of snow, wind and ice. And it’s not over yet. Isn’t that a cheerful way to start an article for our Steeple Signal as we look toward spring?
I try various coping strategies to get through the winter months, because (as most of you know) I’m not a fan of wearing everything I own to go out, fearing slipping and falling on the ice, or considering putting the trash in the dumpster as an Olympic event. As I gaze at my snow-covered deck furniture, my weary soul longs for warm summer evenings sitting in a deck chair, waving to my neighbors as they take their strolls through the parking lot. Now, I stay inside as much as possible and dream of warmer days to come. And they will come, just as they do every year despite whatever groundhog prophesizes. In fact, right now it is coyote mating season, and I’ve seen several roaming across the yard in search of a mate and/or a den in which to raise their young. Deep underground, the sap is beginning to rise in dormant trees heralding the arrival of new growth leaves that will offer shade in the dog days of summer.
As I’ve grown older, not necessarily wiser, I’ve made my peace with winter. I’ve realized that it is only through the yearly revolution of the earth around the sun that makes summer possible now in the southern hemisphere. In fact, March 1 marks the beginning of autumn in Australia and South Africa. It’s hard for me to think about Christmas being in the summer, but it is in half of the world.
So, I suppose we can put up with a few cold months so others can bask in the warmth. However, I do look forward to Easter which for me marks the return of a season of flowers, blooming trees and verdant growth. Truly a kind of resurrection appropriately occurring at the time we celebrate the triumphal resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
In Christ, Pastor Sharon