January 19, 2025
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How do the great trees die and come to life again? It’s a question we can ponder every winter as the bare, black branches fill with ice. Their stark emptiness seems to be a place from which there is no return. But we know otherwise. In the encroaching cold of every December, our experience whispers that there will be another April. Still, in the frigid dark, it is sometimes hard to believe.
Like nature, each one of us has our seasons.
- Our lives contain the seasons of our youth and aging.
- Our daily experiences turn in both the ebb and tide of life.
- Each of us has blossomed with spring’s new life: beginning a new job, relationship, adventure.
- Each of us has cultivated what we love over warm summers of dedication and growth – our faith, families, friends, ministries, andcareers.
- Each of us has reaped the autumn returns of our efforts, walking away from a red and golden field carrying a well-earned harvest – graduations, anniversaries, promotions, retirements.
- Certainly, each of us has known our own winters, when cold has threatened and dark has isolated – and yet, like the trees – we have survived.
As we move into the depths of “Winter 2025”, it seems an opportune time to review the lessons of the season – especially the chapters on deep roots, inner quiet, and a hidden spiritual warmth that defies freezing.
In the winters of our lives, we are invited to learn what truly sustains us. We are called to delve into the power of endurance, forgiveness, honesty, loyalty, and faithfulness. These are the winter virtues that sustain life deep under the surface of any paralyzing storm. These are the salts that keep life’s highways passable, allowing us to stay connected to all that keeps us vibrant.
On any given day of the year, we can experience “winter”. Think of the times you have received (or given) the “cold shoulder”. Remember the times your explanations have been given an icy reception? Haven’t there been conversations where you were frozen out? Can’t you still see the frosty stare you got from someone who thought you were beneath them? We have all known some sub-zero responses when we were looking for a warm word. We have all received some chilly greetings when we needed not to feel like a stranger.
Hospitality is the perfect antidote to all these methods of freezing one another out. It is the human anti-freeze that reminds us that we need one another’s warmth to survive the treacheries of life. If there is someone you have exiled to the Arctic, think about reaching out in hospitality, forgiveness or honesty. This winter, let go of the glacial grudges, silences, and harbored hurts that sometimes freeze our souls and kill our hope of returning to life. Listen to the voice of the dark December night. It tells us how to move toward spring.
Music: Winter Sonata – David Lanz
For Your Reflection
- What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
- Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ?
- What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?
Lavish Mercy 
I am loving your heart and what you are sharing. Please keep them coming!
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