Welcome to winter (whether you wanted it or not)! I don’t know about Munster, but there’s snow on the ground in Indy. Tori loves it … me, not so much. We just dealt with the time change and are acclimating to shorter days of light and feeling like it ought to be time for bed at 7 pm, and now there’s this. Which, to be honest, shouldn’t be a surprise to any of us who have gone through this every Midwest year of our lives.
“It was you, O Lord, who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.” — Psalm 74:17
Fall is falling – not fading – fast. The air this morning bites a little sharper, and the first snow has dusted our yards like powdered sugar. Even though leaves are still on the trees, creation itself seems to hush, preparing for rest. This verse from Psalm 74 reminds us that even as seasons change — even as life tilts toward cold and stillness — God remains the one who sets the boundaries. God is Lord of summer and winter alike.
Now is a good time to be reminded that God works not only in the growth and color of spring and summer but also in the quiet dormancy of winter. As to ground freezes from above, beneath life waits and roots deepen. Our spiritual lives follow the same rhythm. There are seasons of activity and seasons of rest, times of visible fruit and times of hidden faithfulness. It’s an anomaly in the life of most churches that even as we enter a seasonal time of rest, our churches are busy calendaring Advent events, and many of us are bracing for the holiday season angst.
John Wesley often spoke of God’s “grace for every season.” The same God who warms us with the Spirit’s fire also shelters us in the frost of uncertainty. The first snow can be a quiet call to trust that God is still working — even when the world seems to go dormant and still.
So, this year, let the cold and the snow be a reminder of how God works in all seasons of our lives and of our world. Even when we don’t understand the “why’s” of life, God is working. God is Lord of summer and winter.
Prayer: Creator of the seasons, thank you for the beauty of change and the peace of rest. Help me to find You in every season of life — in both the warmth of growth and the chill of waiting. As the earth grows still beneath its winter covering, teach me to rest in your steadfast love. Amen.
