After the political animosity, the protests, riots, killings, fires, floods, and COVID19, I need a break. Even though I did not lose my home or a loved one in the past few months, I feel the weight and stress around me. I get frustrated with the lawlessness and saddened and stressed by other people's losses across North America. (I don't keep up with the rest of the world.)
Jesus warned His disciples about difficulties coming when He told them, "At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved" (Matthew 24:10-13, NIV).
This sounds a little like today. I can understand how love grows cold as I fuss over the news. So how can we keep our love for God and others strong?
For me, it goes back to what the Lord told me when my own faith shattered. I was angry, ashamed, afraid and lost. I asked Him how I could get up and walk with Him. He answered, "Look at who I am." Romans 1:20 tells us that we can see His character and nature by looking at what He made. I can look at what He made and see Him instead of the chaos.
Today, I thought about His artistry. My husband blew some of God's artistry off the sidewalk this morning. The older we get, the less joy we feel in watching it snow. There must be a message about life in the snow. I once stepped outside and saw the crystalline flakes laid carefully one atop the other with the sun glinting off the spires. I stopped and looked in awe. I wonder why God made snowflakes so beautiful when we seldom see their artistry in the midst of the storm.
Light is returning to lengthen our days. I always think that winter should be over on the day when light begins getting lighter, but that is only the first day of winter. In Canada, we would have already had enough winter, but God keeps His seasons in place anyway. I do thank our awesome Creator for light. Not only does light keep us alive through our food, clothes and oxygen, but its rays disburse colorful hues onto everything.
Can you imagine a world without color? Winter brings its own palette. I still remember stopping along the road to gaze at the snow-covered Bridger Mountains painted pink as the sun set to the west. The huge, golden moon rose up through Flathead Pass and hung there for a few moments. I had no time to run for a camera so I just stood at the side of the road and memorized the beauty.
The curling green curtains are the most common form of northern lights, but I remember standing outside in -40 degrees to watch purple and scarlet plumes cascade to the ground and herringbone patterns of color pulse overhead with some unknown beat.
Winter had its beauty; yet I look forward to spring when flowers decorate our planet again. Their vibrant colors and fragrant artistry remind us that Someone loves us. Someone is much greater than all the chaos. He has a plan. I want all of us to be a part of His plan because He has promised to come again. The chaos is only for a little while. The words from the Song of Songs fill me with the hope of our Lord's return:
My lover spoke and said to me, "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me."
Sue Carlisle grew up on
the Wind River Reservation
in Wyoming. An enrolled
member of the Ponca Tribe
of Nebraska, her passion
is to encourage people to
look at creation and see
our awesome Creator. Sue
is author of Walking with the Creator Along the Narrow Road (see https://www.indianlife.org/store/page/3/). She and her husband, Wes, now live in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
