WINTER WEARINESS

By Sharon Wilhite

Why is it - with every passing year - that winter weighs so heavily upon me? Three heavy blankets (not “comforters”) of snow, cold, and extra darkness press down on me, making me want to burrow under my actual pile of bed covers and not get up and out until the light and warmth of spring arrives. Sunny, cold days I can tolerate. Grey, frigid days press hard on body, soul, and spirit. I know in my mind that “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” (Eccl. 3:1), but my body and soul are harder to convince. I can help my body with exercise. My mind can fantasize about a winter beach condo in Florida. But my soul is what needs rejuvenating or I am in danger of becoming more depressed with each successive winter.

“My beloved spoke and said unto ME, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past…the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come…the fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” (Song of Solomon 2:10-13)

The invitation is there. Everyday spent with my Lord - in His Word,
in prayer, in song - is a spiritual getaway, a soul “destination vacation” guaranteed to bring back warmth and life to my spirit!

An old song from my teen years mirror my thoughts:

Lord, to my heart bring back the springtime.

Take away the cold and dark of sin.

And, oh refill me now, sweet Holy Spirit;

May I warm and tender be again.

(Kurt Kaiser, 1970)

Oh, Lord, I want to ARISE and COME AWAY - WITH YOU!

Winter

By Jeannetter Doran

Winter comes with a deep sleep of the land when all possibility of life seems bleak and barren. Darkness and cold settle over all. Bare branches give no hope of future growth. Yet soon we see how lovingly the gentle snow blankets the fields, giving needed protection. Later we watch melting snow providing the wanted water. As the necessary winter of the land prepares for the future abundance our soul’s fruition depends on its own winters.
In our soul’s winter it’s a time of solitude and waiting, a time of prayer. Yes, God is hidden in the darkness but the stars do shine more the darker the sky. Our winters can be long and intense. Just as the land’s bleakness and sleep seem long and severe so, too in our soul this is felt. In our heart we seem to find no joy or meaning. It appears to be a time of emptiness, and absence. This is also a precious time for secret soul growth when one nurtures the seeds of hope and faith. Holding on in the darkness and nothingness we believe God is with us and will carry us through our winter to the joys of a heavenly spring. We grasp with all our hearts our God, who is near in the dark. We trust and believe we will never be abandoned but someday will hear our Beloved call our name with great tenderness. Our winters are times when we learn to live in the light of faith while feeling surrounded by darkness. How necessary it is to wait in our spiritual journey, to wait in silence, to try to turn off all external stimuli and search with all one’s being for interior silence. To penetrate into the silence as the seed enters the womb of the soil. As we come to listen to and to taste the silence we find rest in the silence and becoming more enfolded in the silence a light will shine from our innermost being. This light will eventually radiate out to all about us as the spring blossoms diffuse their delicate fragrance. May we all know the vast beauty of this radiant fragrance.

Cure for Cabin Fever?

By Sharon Wilhite

With each passsing year, January becomes a harder month to endure. I don't do well anymore with long, dark days, freezing temperatures, winter driving, and cooped up children. (Please, someone, bequeath me a beach front home in Florida!!!) To take my mind off January's chill, here are some of my favorite pictures from glorious summer to share.