Are You Living in Winter?
Winter, Highbridge by George Benjamin Luks
It's winter in the city and the shadows from the trees suggest the day is heading into the afternoon. This painting is alive with activity although nothing is very definite. You can't see faces or tell what anyone is doing. There are groups of children in motion everywhere. The buildings are drab, the trees are stark but the children are colorful and lively.
Winter -- the very word suggests cold, dark, damp days. But here in this painting winter is full of life. Fluffy white snow blankets the park making it a wonderland.
Are you spending your "winter days" brooding indoors, trying to keep warm, and wishing it were spring? God has his loving purpose for the winter days of our lives just as He has for the spring. Things may look bleak but if you step boldly into your winter days God will bring to you the color and life that you seek. The white snow will overtake the shadows and you'll find others to experience life with.
Things might not seem very clear and definite in our winter days but nevertheless God is at work. He wants us to enjoy these days with Him. He is moving, arranging, and working His life into the affairs of our life. Then, just when we feel settled to stay living in winter with God, He invites us to "Arise and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come." Song of Solomon 2:11-12a