I'm Tired of Winter: Here's Why...

There is a wonderful monastic community based in Ithaca, New York that is called the Lindisfarne Community. The community’s prayer that they abide by goes like this, “That I may be as Christ to those I meet; that I may find Christ within them.” Beautiful words, but looking deeper into those words we find a deeper more meaningful existence if we choose to live by them.

            If you’ve been within a hundred feet of me these past few weeks you’ve heard me talk about the weather that I experience while I’m at Appalachian State University. The long cold nights coupled with dreary days have not been the best this year for me, deep down I yearn for spring, for newness, for sunshine. I think for me this Lent has been one of darkness, one of coldness, one of hard times. Easter is getting closer and I couldn’t be happier about that.

            As I was pondering the hard winter I’ve experienced I came across a poem that took my by surprise in how well it describes everything that is going on with me and maybe you too, “We have wintered enough, mourned enough, oppressed ourselves enough. Our souls are too long cold and buried, our dreams all but forgotten, our hopes unheard. We are waiting to rise from the dead. In this, the season of steady rebirth, we awaken to the power so abundant, so holy, that returns each year through earth and sky. We will find our hearts again, and our good spirits. We will love, and believe, and give and wonder, and feel again the eternal powers. The flow of life moves ever onward through one faithful spring, and another, and now another. May we be forever grateful.”

            I commend these words to you because I know that I’m not the only one who has had a hard winter (at least that’s what I’m telling myself) In the spring that is waiting in the wings we hear the crucified and resurrected Christ calling to us, beckoning us to come, sit for a while and bask in the sunshine of resurrection.

            But, for now, we’re still buried in the harsh, cold reality of Lent. This is the time when we prepare for what’s ahead, what has to happen for the resurrection to be accomplished. If you’re anything like me sometimes that prayer of seeing Christ in other people I mentioned earlier is a lot harder when we’re waiting for Easter. We all have trouble feeling God’s presence when life is full of heartache and despair, but ultimately we’re called to experience Christ amidst the winters, and the springs. We’re called to feast with our Creator around a table meant for all creation.

            This week, find Christ in people, be Christ for people, it’s those moments that will get you through the winters of life. As we continue to journey and to ponder, let us all yearn for the resurrection that comes when God is present and the stone is rolled away. That’s something we can look forward to.