End of Winter Musings

Winter. This year it goes on and on. I keep bumping into one big question: What amazing thing is God doing with all this snow and cold?

Thinking about winter this way gives me hope. I am all about hope and watching for the first signs of life being brought forth from winter. I wish I were biologist enough to know how 
so much winter affects life. What is going on down under all this snow? Will the flowers and crops be especially abundant and beautiful? And the animals, how will it affect them? 

I think one way God uses nature is to teach us hope. He has made the ebbing and flowing of seasons a part of human nature; it resonates with us and makes sense. God says in Ecclesiastes 3 that He has "made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man's heart." What I learn from watching seasons change ~ maybe especially seemingly endless seasons ~ helps build hope into my heart. 

Romans 8:22-25 has been one of my memory passages:

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience

It almost feels as if nature is groaning under the pain of winter and waiting for spring, as Lewis showed when Narnia was under the White Witch's rule. What will all that snow give birth to?

But spring is coming. And what application does this have for different types of "winter" ~ what beautiful glory is God working under all the stuff I'd rather not experience? I am waiting with hope to see.

One-word Quotes

Yesterday at a meal it came up that one of Miss Language's friends has just watched (sit down here) The Princess Bride for the first time. (fan yourself and recover a bit. I know. Poor deprived young adult.)

Anyhow.

We all started quoting the movie and of course came to "Inconceivable." And we began to wonder what other one-word quotes are famous. We came up with a few but I am curious about what you will come up with.

The follow-up question is this, Do one-word quotes exist in books, too? Or do they need the inflection etc of a song or movie? The only contender we came up with was So (or more accurately Hwaet), although I thought the So could be just as well Vonnegut as Beowulf. 

The final tunnel in this rabbit trail was one-word tags: Mr Music suggested for example that there is really only one place to go from "Ishmael."

Anyone here want to contribute to this discussion?  :)