I’m not a fan of winter. There are things I appreciate: the holidays, cozying up with a mug of hot tea, the beauty of a blanket of snow covering the ground. Still, I get sad when the days get shorter and the darkness of the season sets in.
We will experience more than one spiritual winter in our lives, when we feel we are stumbling around in the dark, alone, disconnected from God. It’s inevitable. Maybe you’ve lost a job or a loved one. Maybe a blizzard of bad feelings has enveloped you.
This is a painful spot to be in. But remember the childhood game of Hot and Cold, in which someone hides an item and you have to find it? When you got really close, the other person would say “hot.” If you were somewhere in the vicinity, you were “lukewarm.” And when you were nowhere near? “Cold.”
I felt bewildered whenever I was “cold.” The clues didn’t add up; nothing made sense. Then I’d realize that if I kept searching and listening, I’d find what I was looking for. Same with finding your way back to God. No matter how lost you feel right now, keep listening for him. Your faith will flourish again.
These bleak seasons are not only inevitable but necessary. The flowers of spring would not blossom without what goes on underground, unseen, all winter. For my faith to grow stronger, I too need these periods of reflection.
I read a lot in the winter. This verse from the Gospel of John always jumps out at me: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” Shine on this winter!
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