God Loves Winter!

I swept the sidewalk this morning after a light snowfall. I really don't mind Winter if there are cold days and snow on the ground. It is the Southern Ontario season of Grey, following Autumn, that is soul-destroying. Last evening the snow fell gently as we walked to yoga, and the nearly-full moon was visible through the haze of precipitation. How unfortunate that some people never have this experience of creation. Below are some reflections on Winter, courtesy of Christianity Today magazine.

AS LONG as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.Genesis 8:22 (NRSV)

[GOD] gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes. He hurls down hail like crumbs— who can stand before his cold?Psalm 147:16-17 (NRSV)

IT IS a pleasure to the real lover of nature to give winter all the glory he can, for summer will make its own way and speak its own praises.
Dorothy Wordsworth, Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth

THE COLD autumn rains, the gray austerity of winter woodscape, the pearl purity of December snowfall—all awaken a desire inside of me that, I know, God will not disappoint.
Vigen Guroian, The Fragrance of God

I LIKE these cold, gray, winter days. Days like these let you savor a bad mood.
Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

HAVE YOU entered the storehouses of the snow,
or have you seen the storehousesof the hail?Job 38:22 (NRSV)

IN SEEDTIME, learn; in harvest, teach; in winter, enjoy.
William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

COLD AND CHILL, bless the Lord.
Dew and rain, bless the Lord.
Frost and chill, bless the Lord.
Ice and snow, bless the Lord.
Nights and days, bless the Lord.
Light and darkness, bless the Lord.
Canticle of the Three Youths

IF WINTER COMES, can spring be far behind?
Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Ode to the West Wind"