There's that old expression--the dead of winter. That phrase is so apt and fitting. While my wife likes the snow and sees it as beautiful and wondrous, I see it as bleak and barren. So pale. So lifeless. So . . . cold.
Baby, it is cold out there, and if the meteorologists are correct--which, unfortunately, they have been lately--it's going to get colder.
As I said, my wife really likes winter. She enjoys snuggling in with fleece and flannel. She finds joy in being inside baking, reading, being with the kids and even being with me--for some reason. And she can look out that window, frosted as it may be, and see beauty, life, goodness. It warms her heart. I'm serious--this wonderful woman actually gets even more cheerful the worse the weather gets.
I do not.
Now don't get me wrong--I get excited when a big snowstorm is coming. I love bad weather. In the summer I'm out in the storms, feeling the rumble of the thunder in my chest and wondering at the power, the majesty. I always think of Revelation Chapter 4 where John describes the throne room of God as reverberating with lighting and thunder.
And the few times I've seen/heard thunder-snow--that's incredible. The lightning is so incredibly white and bright reflecting off the snow, and the thunder. . . it's just different. Loud and yet muffled at the same time. Pretty cool.
I see the power and majesty of God through His creation, and I know the rain and the snow both come from Him. But I will take a good old thunderstorm after a 90 degree heat wave over a snowstorm and 0 degree weather any day.
The cold makes me feel, well, cold.
And not just on the outside, but the inside. I know there is a medical condition called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD, fittingly), but that's not what I'm talking about. I may not like the short days of winter, but as long as the temps don't drop too far, I'm fine.
But when it gets cold--and I mean really cold--like below 30 (not 30 below, below 30), I've had enough. I still go out and hunt, go ice fishing, still change the oil in our vehicles, shovel the snow, throw snowballs at the kids and all that, but I don't like it. Snow would be great, if it was 80 degrees.
The problem isn't that I'm physically cold--I've got the clothes and understand the idea of layering (the guy I hunt with laughs at the "suitcase" I bring with me). It doesn't matter how warm I am. I can be sweating, and still I complain about the cold. The problem is I'm cold on the inside. I feel cold because it looks cold.
That window in the picture at the top of this blog--it's all frosted over. Now, probably, it's warm inside that house. But looking through that frost makes me think it's cold. I'm not cold, but I feel cold. The power of suggestion, I guess.
I think we do the same thing in a lot of aspects of our lives. Let's say someone at work is having a bad day. I might be having a good day, but when I realize someone else isn't, all the sudden my day isn't so good. I let someone else's bad day become my bad day. Just like looking out that frosted window made me feel cold. I wasn't cold--I wasn't having a bad day--until I saw it. Then I felt it. Ever have that happen?
Or have you ever been tempted by something that you normally would not be tempted by until you saw someone else do it? Or wanted something you never wanted before until someone else had one? Ever let someone else's bad habits creep into your life? Ever doubt God's presence because someone else told you He wasn't there? Ever feel spiritually cold because the world is?
Baby, it is cold outside. But we don't have to be cold in here, and by "in here" I mean in God's presence. In God's family. In His arms. And that's where we are. Every one of us who believes.
Just like I'm in a warm house, or a warm car, or warm clothes. It may be cold all around me but I am warm. There is spiritual coldness and in fact death all around us. We live in a spiritually dead world. But we are alive! We are warm! We are sheltered. We are safe. We are surrounded by the light and, in fact, are to be lights ourselves.
It's a cold and dark world out there, but don't let it chill that flame inside you.
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