Winter

Having come home from sunny California where we swam outside most days and only wore a sweater occasionally in the evening to blustery England where we've pulled out our winter coats, hats and gloves, it would be easy for me to sink into the mire of self-pity, wondering what in the world I am doing living in this climate. But as I was walking through the field to preschool yesterday, I felt God reminding me that Winter teaches me about faith. When the trees are bare, the flowers have died, the wind is bitterly cold, and most of the wildlife have gone into hiding, I find it easy to get down. I find it easy to hate England. I find it hard to get out of bed before the sun is up and to stay up hours after it has gone to bed for the night. The shortest day of Winter here in England is less than 8 hours long.

But Faith is believing in something that we cannot see. It is believing despite the evidence of the barren landscape that Spring is just around the corner, and new twigs and buds and baby animals will be bursting forth in just a few short months. Faith is believing that despite the darkness of the day, God promises His Kingdom will reign, and that I am one of the instruments of His Kingdom. So whether I see it or not, I have to believe that He is at work under the bark, the frozen ground, in the burrows and the caves, waiting to burst forth in light, and that my prayers and good works and acts of faith are bringing that Kingdom just a little closer.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.