winter

The month of February is upon us again.  I have often found it to be the dreariest month of the year. So much rain, so much cold. Even now as I write, the wind is howling at my windows, and I am forced to bundle up as I sit at my kitchen table. We have already endured one of the coldest Januaries on record for Georgia,(we are a bit wimpy when it comes to freezing temperatures), and we still have February and March to go. My heart sinks at the thought. I am not a winter fan. Days tend to drag on and I feel sluggish and really kind of useless.

It has been on my mind a lot lately, how I wish this season would just pass and be done already. As I wished for spring’s warmth, I felt a slight correction in my spirit  to just “let winter be winter”. I wasn’t sure what that meant.  I felt it when I passed by the weeping cherry tree on my way back from the barn last week, and saw it’s bony branches dragging against the unforgiving ground. It looked like a true picture of grief, with it’s limbs swaying back and forth like one in profound mourning. The symbolism struck me deeply. “Let winter be winter”. There is so much that happens when the earth is cold and still. There is rest, there is a true rekindling, and there is death. However, it is not an unfruitful or purposeless death.  I am reminded of the scripture in John 12 where Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, that unless at kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”   That same tree in the spring will be larger than it was the season before, because of winter.

As much as I protest, like a child refusing her afternoon nap, I need winter. I would absolutely burn myself out without it. I need time to be still. I need to be made to read books in quiet fire lit places, and blog on afternoons like this when it is way too cold to even go outside , much less photograph a family. I need to take naps and drink tea, and make dinner for my husband when he comes home from a long day. I need to pray, and listen to my God.

As I mused on these things one frosty morning last week, I set out with my camera and tried to capture some winter beauty. Winter light really is quite beautiful, as is the frost on the delicate leaves in the morning. I hope you enjoy these winter images. And, I hope you appreciate your winter.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 ” There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:”