I can understand why some folks during the days of the pioneers, went totally berserk during the winter months. Day after day on these flat, flat plains. Blowing snow, gargantuan snow drifts, decreased daylight, temperatures in the basement! Continual threats of spring flooding. Except for the latter, I loved it all when I was a kid.So what has changed? I admit that the stark, white landscape has its own kind of beauty. I admit that those sundogs are breathtaking. And I freely admit that the clear, crisp air on a winter's night can be invigorating and seems to emphasize the brilliance of the stars. But ooh, the staggering cold, the cold. The having to be inside day after day. It begins to wear on a soul.
So what to do.
I made three afghans this winter, so far, but the best . . .
I decided to read through the entire Bible this winter (even the older testament books like Leviticus!). And I'm not reading it chronologically. I'm reading it as directed by thoughts I have, questions we have, subjects mentioned in S.S. class, pointed ouches from the pastor's sermons, etc. Guess what? I'm loving it.
The Psalms are beautiful, but then so is Lamentations (though a bit of a downer). Ruth filled me with gratitude for my earthly kinsman redeemer and my Heavenly One. Even the never-ending laws found in some of the books the older testament were worth the reread.
But you know what I love best? Every single word that our dear Lord Jesus said. Every one. I have been sneered at in the past for being a 'red-letter' Christian. It was an unkind and unfair remark because I have read and reread the older testament many times. But to read our Lord's words do more for me than anything found in the older testament. And, after all, all the fullness of the godhead dwelt in Him bodly. So if I know Him, I know His Father. If I ever practice well His command to love God with all my heart, soul, and mind, and love my neighbor as myself, then maybe I will move on to those hair-splitting, ivory-tower theological arguments.
Until then . . . I'm sticking with the basics . . . the Lord Jesus and His every word.
So when I look out my living room window at the miles and miles of white; when I hear the never-ending roar of the wind; or when I long for the first breath of spring, I pick up my Bible and begin to read.
Comfort, sweet comfort. In the midst of every storm.
You might want to try it.
