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.

FOCUS

I decided to do a post about things to help me keep steady, things to encourage myself, things I can make happen for myself, at least most of the time. I had some suggestions, which are included, and will edit back to add helpful ideas from comments, or from my own observations.  :)


I noticed things from my own list fell into a few broad categories, so I am giving them an acronym: FOCUS - to remind me to keep my eye on the prize of becoming more Christlike. This list is personalized for me, and is just a memory-jogger, not in any special order.  I am putting the ones I consider dailies in bold. :)


F ~ fix my eyes on Christ
          do my memory work   
          do my devotions 
          remember God has things covered (preach to myself and put myself in the path of teaching)
          keep thankfulness journal
          ask for the Spirit's help
   
O ~ others need my love
          make a meal for someone
          send someone an encouraging email or note
          call someone I love
          invite someone over
          write a thank-you note


C ~ count on others
          look for the helpers
          keep a calendar of things I'm looking forward to
          ask for prayer
          hang pictures and set things out that remind me I'm loved
    
U ~ useful things cheer me up
          do a sewing or knitting project
          clean up something
          pick berries
          do a load of laundry
          pull weeds
          finish things on the to-do list and cross them off
          rearrange the furniture or decorate for a changing season


S ~ sensory care ~ things that just please me
          write a blog post  
          walk in the woods and observe nature (take the dog to put it in U)
          aim for 10,000 steps on my pedometer
          do a workout
          polish my toenails
          fix a new centerpiece
          walk in the rain
          keep list of gratitudes, good things, kindness, etc
          eat chocolate
          have a cup of chai
          play hymns or music I like
          wear a favorite piece of jewelry
          take a long hot shower
          do something creative - color or rubber stamp or craft
          read
          go out for a treat

French Braid

I am a French braider of ideas. I pull an idea in from the side, from a song, blog post, or book. I bring in a thought from the other side, a conversation, something I saw. And I tease out something coming like a hair from my own head.


This morning I woke up braiding things together with a blog post I read yesterday about how to live faithfully while you wait on God. It is a very good post, by which I basically mean I would have been glad to write it and was glad to read it. In any case, my first-thing-in-the-morning brain started thinking that really, what the author called waiting on God, wasn't so different from what most people call dealing with depression. And yet I find it a much more encouraging way to look at things.


And then I found myself working this recent post of Miss Language's into the braid, where she talks about calling out to God especially when you feel distant from Him. I read this and was thinking how normal it is to call out when you are alone. That is what children do when they are lost and scared ~ call out exactly because they feel alone. 


And so that is all. The hair from my own brain being braided into this is simply how encouraging it is to think of difficult times as waiting on God. What could be better than waiting for the Creator of the universe?


~~~


Hosea 12:6 “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God."