The story...
Winters can be long as Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford) shared with Bear Claw (Will Greer). There've been times in my life when living through the winter grew me - kind of like those tulip bulbs that're growing beneath the ground - preparing for their "spring up" in May. I'm told that tulip bulbs need the cold winter experience to bloom as they ought. They grow alone yet bloom together. These darker times seem necessary for real growth; yet, I can't imagine that we were meant to stay in the darkness longer.
Today is cold yet the sun is shining bright. I appreciate the winter sunshine. He cuts through the barren trees and reflects off the snow - it's brighter than July when the leaves block His rays. He ushers in feelings of thankfulness and joy. Tomorrow the snow may melt, the clouds roll in, yet my heart can stay warm as I walk humbly, thankfully, and rightly with God.
Will the only church in town experience periods of winter? I expect that they're necessary. I expect life would look brighter if we're a bit less guarded and acted out more closely to our true selves - less iniquity. Might we engage in life more fully, and express our feelings more openly, if we grew in the inevitable darkness and lived more in the Light?
Just for today...
"When I talk all the time, nothing is being added to me. I am using the same old destructive thought material that has kept me at a standstill for so long." One Day at a Time (p. 41)
"Peak through the darkness, Even a tiny ray of light - I know it'll be good, teach me to wait." Am I a Poet