You see, Christmas is that beauty a midst the bitter cold. Despite the broken, messed up reality of this earth, the Almighty clothed Himself in flesh…beauty a midst the bitter cold. 

But it’s March. And winter is still here, in full force. 

I despise winter. 

What is it I have against winter? Perhaps it’s the temperature, which seems to stay below freezing most days. Or it could be the wind that howls through my drafty window as I try to sleep. It may be the salt stains on my boots. Perhaps I dislike winter because I have a car and thus a long list of winter duties: scrape the windshield, kick the accumulations of salt and snow near my tires, drive on slippery roads, wait patiently for the heater to work. 

Sure I can wear boots and scarves, drink hot beverages, go iceskating, and build snowmen, but the longevity of this season is irritating. 

Contrary to my beloved islander’s optimism, it’s quite possible winter will never end in this tundra land. Every year, beginning in October, the cold lasts until at least April. And so I sit here, staring through the window.

And I remember, spring will come. Yes it’s winter now and it seems like it’s an eternal punishment, but just as winter is real, so is spring. Spring is the evidence of God working in a dark, drab world. But spring is seen through a wintery lens.

There must be winter, or else spring wouldn’t as pleasant. There must be adversity to appreciate prosperity. There must be cold to appreciate heat. There must be ice skating rinks to appreciate swimming pools. There must be empty trees to appreciate new buds. There must be hot tea to appreciate ice cold lemonade. There must be parkas to appreciate tank tops. There must be death to appreciate life. There must be boots to appreciate flip flops. There must be chaos to appreciate peace. There must be darkness to appreciate light. 

We all have winter, somewhere deep within us. That thing we despise, the thing that threatens to freeze the softness, the thing that festers our fears. Winter exists within us. And initially the snowfall is beautiful, but after a few minutes, the frostbite sets in and we get impatient. And there are days that get so cold, it seems as though it will always be winter. We don’t like what is, and so we long for spring. 

I’m tempted to stay in this longing, disdaining my current reality, dreaming for something warmer to come.

But tonight, in light of the truth that seasons come and seasons go, I’m going to neither hate the winter, nor idolize the spring. Instead, I’ll celebrate the present. I’ll open my eyes to the goodness, the Christmas in this seemingly never ending winter. It may not be my favorite season or weather, but it’s God’s sovereignty over all seasons, and He’s good.