Musings Of A Counselor: Is There Hope In Winter?

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Is There Hope In Winter?

“Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again.”

-Sarah Ban Breathnach

By this point in the winter, I'm yearning for the days of spring and summer. I'm sick of walking carefully so I don't slip on the eyes, sick of getting up early to clean the ice off my car every morning, and I'm sick of feeling cold to my bones. I enjoy the beauty of freshly fallen snow, but hate the slush that comes after. After the recent Winter Storm of last week (click here to see some pictures from Tuesday), I was ready for a weekend of warmer weather to melt the snow and ice. However, yesterday I woke up to an even bigger snow storm, which didn't let up all day. Needless to say, I was annoyed.

This morning, as I was complaining to myself about the cold, I paused to think about the changing seasons. Although sometimes the winter seems hopeless and never-ending, the thing that keeps me going is the reminder that Spring WILL come. No matter how Winter is, how cold, how icy, how endless, or despairing it feels, we carry around the knowledge that Spring will come, and with it, cheerful sounds of birds, bright colors of flowers, warm sun, and hope come as well. Isn't this true with life too?

In life, we hit seasons that are like Winter. This season may be brief, or it may seem to last forever. Sometimes it feels like we cannot survive the season, that there's no way that Spring will come. But just as Spring will always come after Winter, so it is true in our life. When we hit winter, we hold onto the hope and the knowledge that spring will come, and with it joy, happiness, and color will return. So, as much as I hate winter, I'm so thankful that I experience all 4 seasons, as it's a wonderful reminder for my personal life as well.

And of course, I couldn't end this post without some pictures of the nasty little storm we got yesterday!