Clarity in the Winter

I recently took the time to appreciate Winter's view from my front yard. I have always appreciated the architecture of Winter; the tree limbs in full view; how colors stand out against the white of the snow; how sunsets and sunrises change my world into a hue of pinks and purples,violets and blues.

As I was looking to the North, I had full view of the vintage barn which is mostly hidden in the fullness of Summer. I can see the large, brick, farmhouse in the distance with its' huge evergreen wreath and equally large red bow. A beautiful site against the snow, with rows upon rows of baby evergreens between the house and my lane.

Only in Winter can I see a sunset from my front porch. Come Spring, Summer, and Autumn, the trees are too full which face the West. Sometimes I can view a glimpse of color during those rare days when the warm sky turns various hues of pastel, otherwise I notice only the lessening of light outside.

As I have gone through various trials in my life, those which I must remind myself to start breathing again, those trials from which I didn't want to wake up each morning, I see them as Winter seasons in my walk with God. There is a clarity about the world that only comes when the trees are bare, there are no flowers to distract, no green to provide a background in a world full of color. Such is the clarity of a Winter season in my life.

In the midst of pain, nothing separates between God and myself (unless I place a separation of bitterness or anger between us). It has been during the Winter seasons that I have seen Him and know Him. Like Job, before the trials hit I knew of Him...now I know Him. There is something about finding myself in the midst of a Winter season that I see His Word more clearly, that I hear His Voice out of the midst of all others clamoring in my mind.

When my world is cold, dark, bleak, colorless, frightening...He is there. He always is there but it is in my Winter that I must stay still and listen, seek with all my mind, find His will and His strength to go on. Spring has always followed the Winter seasons. There came a time the trial ended one way or another. I had either an answer to prayer or the grace to go on. Later I always looked back and realized how much closer the Winter seasons brought me to Him. In my walk with the Lord through all these years, growth came not in Spring, Summer, or Autumn...growth came when I was made to stretch out to Him just as the bare branches of the tree are stretching toward the sun. He never wastes a season.