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! 

 View while driving to the Movie Theater. Very poor visibility. 

 Look at those huge chunks of snow falling!

 Look how thick the snow is on the top of my car!

 Icicles

 Bird in the tree...

Even if I dislike winter, I still think this is absolutely beautiful... 

When There's a Winter Storm

Although many universities and all schools within an hour of me were cancelled today, the University I work at decided to stay open. Normally it takes me about 25 minutes in the winter to scrape my car and drive to work. Today, I scraped for about 30 minutes, and THEN it took me 30 minutes to drive to work. And it started sleeting, so I ended up leaving at about 2:30 anyways. I tried to remind myself that scrapping my car was a great work out.
Last night I went to the grocery store, and waited in line for an hour to check out. Apparently everyone was preparing at the last minute, but this led to very little food left that didn't need to be refrigerated.
A few helpful hints for staying safe in winter storms:
1. If your power goes off, open kitchen cabinets to help keep pipes warm
2. Have a supply of batteries & candles
3. Always keep a supply of non-refrigerated foods in your house, in case you get snowed in for a few days
4. If officials make an announcement that travel is for emergencies only- YOU ARE NOT THE EXCEPTION and you put the lives of others at risk if you go out. So don't
5. Avoid downed power lines
6. Fill pitchers, bottles, and buckets with fresh water
7. If you drive somewhere, have a shovel, blankets, hat, boots, and gloves in your car

And a few pictures from the beginning of the storm:

 My Car this morning

 This took a long time to scrape off

 Sleet is flying through the screens on my window and landing next to the glass

 At least I have lactose free hot chocolate to drink!

 Not a single banana left at the grocery store

Hardly any bread either...

Ok. I don't own this picture, but I found it today and thought it was too funny to pass up sharing!

Does anyone else have pictures or storm stories to share?