Winter Seasons
December 22, 2023
“Like the frost on a rose
Winter comes for us all
Oh how nature acquaints us
With the nature of patience
Like a seed in the snow
I’ve been buried to grow
For Your promise is loyal
From seed to sequoiaI know
Though the winter is long even richer
The harvest it brings
Though my waiting prolongs even greater
Your promise for me like a seed
I believe that my season will comeLord I think of Your love
Like the low winter sun
As I gaze I am blinded
In the light of Your brightness
Like a fire to the snow
I’m renewed in Your warmth
Melt the ice of this wild soul
Till the barren is beautifulI can see the promise
I can see the future
You’re the God of seasons
I’m just in the winter
If all I know of harvest
Is that it’s worth my patience
Then if You’re not done working
God I’m not done waiting
You can see my promise
Even in the winter
Cause You’re the God of greatness
Even in a manger
For all I know of seasons
Is that You take Your time
You could have saved us in a second
Instead You sent a childAnd when I finally see my tree
Still I believe there’s a season to comeLike a seed You were sown
For the sake of us all
From Bethlehem’s soil
Grew Calvary’s sequoia”“Seasons” by Hillsong Worship (Words and music by Chris Davenport, Benjamin Hastings, Ben Tan)
Scientifically, winter is essential to the growth that comes in the following spring season. Some plants require cold temperatures and a period of winter dormancy in order to grow properly in the seasons following. Plants that bear fruit, such as berry bushes and a few fruit trees, must have a time of rest during the winter to prepare their production of fruit. If the cold temperatures of winter are cut short by early warming, the buds and fruit that would be produced die off. Freezing temperatures also allow soil to rest which conserves its organic matter and improves the soil health, allowing for better growth of the soil’s plants!
If you’re in a season of waiting, be encouraged. You’re in this season because God has something in store for your good. He is putting the pieces in place and is preparing you to receive what He has for you. God’s timing is perfect. Don’t waste this season of waiting. Instead, like plants needing dormancy to healthily bear fruit, let your intimacy with Jesus become richer as you trust that His ways are higher.
“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
When it’s cold and barren and unlivable outside during the winter, we gather in warm living rooms, beautified with Christmas decor, full of our favorite people, exchanging gifts and joyful interactions out of love for each other. When life gets cold and barren, are we gathering in the presence of Jesus, decorating our hearts with His Word, exchanging our burdens for His peace?
“I can see the promise
I can see the future
You’re the God of seasons
I’m just in the winter
If all I know of harvest
Is that it’s worth my patience
Then if You’re not done working
God I’m not done waiting”
God is not just good in the spring when life blooms all around us. He is good in the winter as the plants prepare in secret. God is not just good on the mountain tops when your journey brings you to see the perfect view. He is good in the valleys when He holds you and weeps with you. God is not just good in the moments of laughter. He is good in the midst of our tears. Who said productivity could only include joyful emotions? Who said productivity could only happen publicly and outwardly? When we see nothing but the barren fields, the dark walls of the valleys, and the tears, God sees what’s coming. His confidence never wavers. Why should ours?
We don’t give up on or lose joy in the arrays of flowers that bring the outdoors to life when they’re absent in the winter. For we know what’s to come. So why do we give up on Jesus and lose joy in living for Him when abundant life feels absent? For in Jesus, we know what’s to come.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
God’s promise of the coming Messiah was made thousands of years before the birth of Jesus. If we miss this, we miss the whole point. God could have saved the world in a mere second. Instead, He sent His one and only Son to be born of a virgin in a manger. The promise of Christmas took thousands of years to be fulfilled. Because in the waiting, the heart of our Father was revealed again and again. In the waiting, we learned to trust that He is good and His plans are greater. In the waiting, we learned submission and surrender. In the waiting, we were reminded of our weakness and need for dependence on God. It was the waiting that created incredible significance in Jesus as our Savior.
When it’s cold and barren and unlivable outside during winter, we gather in warm living rooms, beautified with Christmas decor, full of our favorite people, exchanging gifts and joyful interactions out of love for each other. When life gets cold and barren, are we gathering in the presence of Jesus, decorating our hearts with His Word, exchanging our burdens for His peace?
Creation needs winter. The fulfillment of Jesus’ birth needed winter. Maybe we need our own winters too. If we can find incomparable beauty in our Christmas winter seasons every year, we can surely find incomparable beauty in the winter seasons of our hearts.