[photo:WinterWeeds, JAVanDevender, 2010]
Psalm 74:16–17 (NKJV)
The day is Yours, the night also is Yours; You have prepared the light and the sun. 17 You have set all the borders of the earth; You have made summer and winter.
"Every Thing is Beautiful... in its own way" (Ray Steven sings it here)... even a "snow covered winter's day." Sitting here shivering in an office with the heating system on the blink, the outside temperature hovering around 15 (F) and no immediate prospects of repair, I have to exert some will power to think of it in positive terms. But, as the Psalmist reminds us, this day is God's day also.
We don't think of weeds in a positive light very often either. They grow, by definition, where we don't want them to be. They are stalky and prolific and they edge out the perennials we so diligently planted. So, a combination of winter and weeds on first consideration, would be a double "downer." But not really. When the snow graces the remaining stalks with cottony softness and the stark white brings high relief to the browns, we find ourselves moved to wonder, perhaps in spite of ourselves.
Perhaps there is a metaphor here worth pondering, if only for a moment. Life is not always easy... the cold winds and harsh temperatures can pose deadly threats to us. The frustration that "weeds" bring into our lives, the plans that don't work out the way we want, the unforeseen contingencies that knock us off our balance, the sheer fact that everything we do is harder than we want it to be, costs more than we want to pay and takes longer than we wish to happen, all these tend to distract us and make us forget that God has made the "winter" also. Perhaps what we need to do is step back and see those things from a different perspective... maybe there is beauty there that only detachment can make visible...
The great hope we have for our lives is that God is all sovereign, all wise and all powerful. That means that nothing we face is beyond His capacity to address and neither is it happening without His knowledge. We can turn to Him and find hope in Him for whatever is before us. But, it is logically necessary that we also must accept, concurrently, that the present instance, whatever it may be, is in fact the result of His ordering of the universe. Winters follow Summers... by design. If we have hope for Spring, trusting in God's providence, then we must accept, submit and look for the beauty in the Winter we are going through, for it is there by design also.
Everything.. is beautiful... in its own way. Somehow, though I still shiver.. it's OK.
Arch,
Your reference to weeds reminded me of the German word for "weed" and one of my favorite German words, "Unkraut." If it's not "Kraut," then it has no business being there. It also reminds me that the dandelion is much prized in parts of Europe for the way it brightens the countryside. Perspective really is everything.
-Dave
Posted by: Dave Borch | January 30, 2013 at 10:03 PM
That's a great story... Since the word "Kraut" was disparagingly applied to Germans in the past, to be "unkraut" would mean the rest of us I suppose. - You're right, perspective makes the difference.
Thanks for the comment
Gadfly
Posted by: Arch Van Devender | January 31, 2013 at 08:40 AM