So, I know this winter hasn’t been so bad. It’s been much warmer and less snowy than usual. And I know I’ve been away to sunnier/warmer destinations twice this winter. I really have no reasons to complain at all. 

And yet. 

It’s snow/sleet-ing out this evening. Possibility of extended freezing rain overnight. And it just…bums me out. 

I struggle with winter from about January 2nd until the last of the white stuff disappears completely. Even in a relatively easy winter season, I’m done with it long before the Weather Network finishes publishing winter weather warnings. And on a night like this, when winter is getting (I hope, I pray) one of its last storms out of its system, I find it hard to believe that Spring  is really on its way. 

(Maybe that sounds like a whole lot of unnecessary whining, but it’s where I’m at on a night like this.)

But the Bible says:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1:3-5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

In other words: there’s a better day coming! Our hope isn’t a thing that dies – it is a living hope. A thing growing and being made new with each sunrise. A thing stronger than the cold and snows of winter. A thing that cannot be spoiled by a hard season or a dark day. 

Our hope is in the Lord, who broke the bonds of sin and death forever,  and he is the one we must cling to in the midst of a storm that threatens to overwhelm us. 

This Lent, may you stay the course. May you know the great mercy of God that gives us living hope in Jesus Christ. And may it sustain you even when the day is dark.