Winter

December 21, 2017

It’s officially winter! It’s felt like it for awhile now, but according to the almanac, today’s the day. Of course, nature pays scant attention to stuff like calendars and almanacs, making its own way and taking its own time. With all our schedulers, daytimers (THAT dates me!), phone and computer apps telling us where we should be and what we should be doing every moment of the day, we might learn a lesson or two from Creation. The seasons come and go on their own timetable which changes with every cold front that sweeps down from Canada. The Norway Spruce in our front yard care not that starting today, the nights will be just a bit shorter with each twenty-four hours that passes. 

The old-timers had a saying, “As the days get longer, the cold gets stronger.” According to the path earth traces around the sun, that never made sense to me, but simple observation bears it out. It would seem that as the days get longer, cold’s grip would begin to weaken, but winter is only beginning, and it’s not ready to relinquish it’s hold on us quite yet. Even though the ice in the parking lot ran freely under the warmth of the sun, it’s hard again tonight, and still crunches underfoot. Only when the crocuses begin to wake from their winter slumber, shaking the sleep from their early shoots, will we actually begin to pry winter’s fingers from our noses and toes.

In the meantime, life goes on. Today, my good friends in the Dunkirk church gave out Christmas gifts and dinners to more than 35 needy families. The generosity of this small congregation continues to amaze me. What began last July with my responding to their need for a pastor has turned into my blessing as I witness their genuine kindness and love for their community. I love these people, and am so thankful that God shook me out of retirement and planted me there. Unlike the changing of the seasons, it didn’t happen overnight, but the change in me is as real as the snow on the ground that covers the grass, and my breath that I see in the air. Winter is here, and I am there, in Dunkirk, thanking God for the privilege of serving alongside these good people.