Into the Fire

Spring has been wrestling with winter for her entrance into the new year. Fought bravely to defeat the old bear of cold air and unexpected snows. Scrappy efforts to push up daffodils, bring cherry blossoms to limbs, and ease the air into a hopeful warmth.

Alas, the battle rages. For some reason, Winter is pushing back. Cold air in the breeze lingers after mild days of almost warm temperatures. The rhododendrons are cowering inside their buds and refusing to bloom which is odd since we often see them bursting forth uncontained in March.

I can’t remember a longer winter in this area. And I’ve lived here most of the winters of my life. Winter gets its due and is allowed all the possibilities of its season, usually only choosing to use a few items in its repertoire in this area, spreading its more extreme allotments on the other side of the mountains. This year Winter pulled out all its tricks and displayed them obnoxiously past its assigned time. Stubbornly sporting its might and hanging around with threatening gestures, none of which Spring has been totally able to defeat.

The whispers of Winter tell me it’s mocking global warming, taunting the claims of arrogant men who insist that man can control it, monitor it, regulate it, or even figure it out. It is laughable when you consider it. Mankind ruling the earth? Get real. If we haven’t learned anything in the centuries of existence, it’s that mankind’s discoveries are few and far between and what he doesn’t know or speculates upon is far less than what exists and has always existed.

I’m with Winter here, but I hope he succumbs to the efforts of Spring soon. He’s definitely proved his point to me. 😉

Father, thank you for your grace through all the seasons of life. Apart from you, I can do nothing. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.