When we were considering relocating to Long Island, NY, we were told that the weather was very similar to our weather in TN. 8-10 degrees cooler they said, very little snow they reassured us. Well it is now mid-February and we have been buried under snow since December 19th!. One snow on top of another for about 6 weeks now. The piles of plowed snow keep building to record heights. I know this is an unusual year, but enough is enough. There has been record snow even in TN this year.
The snow is beautiful I admit it. Nothing makes things look as fresh and clean as a new layer of beautiful white snow. Problem is that it makes everything harder. The wind and the cold require layers and layers of clothing. Walking becomes aerobic exercise due to the need to wade through the deep snow. The same work takes much longer in the snow. Even worse is that I know that beneath the freshest layer are more layers of dirty snow from the previous ones. It piles up layer upon layer.
Every morning I get up, get my coffee, and look out the window. For some reason I keep expecting to get up, look out, and see that all the snow has disappeared overnight. But every morning it’s still there deeper than before. Layer upon layer, stacking up to depths that make the days more and more challenging. One thing I do know is that it will eventually go away. Not overnight, most likely, but gradually like it came. One day spring will be here and the snow will be a thing of the past, forgotten and melted away waiting for another winter. Thankfully I can be confident that it will eventually leave and in its place will come warming sun, and all the signs of spring that we so love. Renewal will not fail us!
As I was thinking about the snow and how it just keeps being there morning after morning, it made me think how like life it is sometimes. Seems like troubles and trials come like the snow during some seasons of our lives. Much like the snow, they come layer upon layer, weighing us down, hiding the signs of the beauty to come, and making even the simplest tasks harder. Every morning we wake to find them still there. Nothing changed and sometimes even a new layer added. We ask ourselves, how long, how much, when will it change?
It’s easy to forget that the trials of this life are temporary. It’s easy to become discouraged when they don’t go away as soon as we would like. It’s tempting to lose heart when the layers keep piling up. Quitting seems like a reasonable option in the face of such weight. Somedays it’s hard to believe that it will ever be different when we are weighted down by the difficulties of this life.
But as sure as I am that spring will come, that the snow will melt away, that flowers will once again peek through the dirt, I know that the troubles of this life are temporary. The Bible refers to them as “light and momentary”. They sure don’t seem that way. Some days the heaviness is almost too much to bear. But God’s Word goes on to say in II Corinthians 4:17 & 18 that these light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
It’s easy to get bogged down and lose heart when we look around at what we see with these eyes. Our earthly vision is so limited. Like looking at the snow and thinking spring will never come, we look at the circumstances of our lives and lose heart that it can ever be different. But it can and it will. The troubles and hardships of this life are fleeting. Both good and bad times come and go. The wonderful news is that we have eternity to look forward to with eager anticipation. When all things will be made new. When trouble, tears, hardships, and heart break are no more. We will shed the layers of this life to walk as completely new creatures in a perfect and eternal place prepared just for us. Like the vanishing snow, all that we see here will be gone and the ultimate renewal will take place. I can’t wait!
In the meantime while I am burdened by the layers and layers of burdens that this life piles on sometimes, I can take heart that my God will never leave me or forsake me. His love is unfailing and I am not left to helplessly and hopelessly flounder even while bound by this earth. Even when I look out and see circumstances that seem insurmountable, I know that My God reigns and He has everything under control.
So for now, morning by morning, I look out and see snow and know that it is temporary. It reminds me for this day that so are the hardships I face. I bundle up for another morning, go out and face the day, knowing that one day soon it will be different.
I Corinthians 2:9 No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.
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