S8 E48: Welcoming March In Winter

Happy March, friends.

We are moving into my favorite time of the year until autumn rolls around.

And even though we are still having a few days that have a little chill in the air, I can smell spring.

I can see glimpses of it everywhere and I can even hear it.

I shared a post on social yesterday that

and singing outside of my window this week that have reminded me that spring

is springing up and I feel excited and I feel excitement rising up to welcome a new season.

But the signs of spring, they have also reminded me how much I have grown to

love the season of winter.

When I was younger, I thought that growth happened in the spring and in the

summer seasons of our life.

You know, the days where the sun is always shining and everything around you

is blooming and just so full of life.

But I've since learned that most of the deep and the beautiful things in my

life have been nourished and developed in the dark and the quiet spaces of a winter season.

And that has been a surprise to me. A surprise gift gift and the heart that

has brought beautiful things to life.

Now, obviously, our lives don't always run parallel with the rhythm of the physical seasons.

So it's been interesting walking through the winter seasonal journal during

this winter season, not personally experiencing a winter season.

And here's some things that rose up for me.

The first thing I noticed and was reminded of was that once you have experienced

and you've weathered a winter season in your life, you don't forget it.

And I guess that's the surprise that I was just trying to explain.

I wasn't surprised that it changed me.

The surprise was that the change was good.

I always thought the evidence of a winter season would leave scars that changed

the good parts of me, you know, the parts that people saw and liked and seemingly loved.

So maybe I thought that if those parts were damaged and changed by a storm,

that who I I was and how that appeared to others wouldn't be wanted or desired.

And sometimes that's the gift that a storm brings that you can't see in the

middle of it because you're just trying to survive.

When all that is familiar is blown away by a winter storm and you still have

the foundation underneath you that is solid and secure, you have the opportunity to rebuild wiser.

Because the storm and all of life leading up to the storm has been teaching you things.

Things that at some point you can now see because your view has been cleared.

So I guess as we are just a few weeks away from welcoming spring,

I guess I just wanted to remind those of you that are in the middle of weathering

a winter season in your life that won't necessarily be going away and ending

when the season changes in a few weeks.

I wanted to say, first of all, that I see you.

And that's another thing that rose up for me in these last few months.

You know, you might not be walking through a winter season, but I'm pretty sure

that there's someone in your life that is.

So I was reminded to see them and to love them.

And I want to remind you that are walking through your own winter season today, day that God is good,

even when your circumstances try until you otherwise.

God is not your circumstance. And sometimes when you're in the middle of the

storm, life can be so disorienting that you can't differentiate the difference.

So I want to say that again.

God is good, even when your circumstances aren't good and are trying to tell you otherwise.

Another thing that I want to remind you of is that there is a connection with your creator,

and an intimacy that is found and experienced in the dark of a winter season,

that is a treasure in the midst of the hard.

And lastly, I want to remind you that spring is on the way.

Seasons change, friend. It's just how things work.

And even though we can't control the how and the when that they will change,

and even when the season of our life hasn't changed yet, we haven't seen the

change that we desire, we change.

We change.

I love you guys, and we'll talk soon.