Winter

 Artwork by Lauren Anderson

I teach a young boy, and right now he is learning about the seasons. Today we've already began a weather chart and talked about two seasons, Winter and Spring. Our lesson gave me a different view of the seasons we go through in our own personal lives.

I've always heard the winter season being referred to in a bit of  a negative light. The focus has always been on everything dying and much slower growth, and I've heard people talking about how they are going through their winter and how it seems as if God is far away, but the lesson we just learned was all about the beauty of the winter season, and I think that same beauty can be applied to our personal lives as well as our walk with the Lord. 

Yes, Winter is cold, and right now in my own life and walk, I'm learning that not everyone who surrounds you carries with them the warmth of love...some people in our lives make love seem distant. While you might be thinking, but Pinky, you just mentioned a negative aspect of Winter, I beg to differ. Our Winter (when those who do not truly carry love for us is revealed) is a positive time. Yes, it's a little painful, but it is truth being revealed. Winter is when plant life dies. Relationships in our life will die during this time, but this is not a bad thing. In fact, without it, our Spring will not flourish as it should. 

You see, our lesson today was all about how Winter is a time for rest and repair. Our personal winters are a time for things to die back in our lives so our spirit can be repaired. It's a little colder; we won't have as many friends full of love and support around, and things will die, including relationships, but none of those things are negative or for our demise. Those things happen because its time for healing and repairing. 

I've been going through this season as I type. Relationships have died in my life, and I was devastated at one point. It hurt. But then again, I was looking at it the way I'd always heard winter seasons referred to, as a tough time in our spiritual walk. After today's lesson, I reevaluated my recent walk and could see how my Winter has been for my own good. God needed me to rest. He needed to heal me. I was wounded, and my wounds were deep. I sought for His healing for years, but it took me going into a winter where things died back in my life in order for Him to begin repairing me. 

If you happen to be going through a winter season and relationships are dying off in your life, don't view it through a negative scope. Pray and seek the Lord. Ask Him if you are in a time of rest and repair; then accept the season. Allow God to cause those things that are likely preventing your healing and repair to die. There's pain involved in surgical procedures, and it's much like a surgery to have people we love plucked out of our lives, but once the surgeon removes that which needed to be removed, healing can begin. 

Be blessed and be made whole,

Schledia