It鈥檚 no secret that this winter has been brutal, even here on the West Coast. Perhaps a better way of expressing it is, especially here on the West Coast. We鈥檝e been buried in snow, and for those of us who have still dared to go out for anything beyond necessary duties, we鈥檝e been wrapped in layers of clothes. There鈥檚 been a run on cleats in at least one of the local stores as we鈥檝e tried to adapt our year-round walking shoes to the icy conditions. Last week, even that didn鈥檛 help me as I found myself lying facedown on the street outside our home. Fortunately, I had only enough cuts and bruises to elicit sympathies and opportunities to tell my story but the saddest of it all, is that we鈥檝e lost our bragging rights.
Soon after moving here from my beloved Saskatchewan, I discovered that bragging was an integral part of living in this near-tropical area of the country. Not this year. Though our 鈥渃old鈥� may seem like nothing compared to other places of the country, for us anything below zero is near catastrophic; after all, the primroses were blooming and the snapdragons near to it when temperatures plummeted a couple of weeks ago. Oh, well, humility isn鈥檛 such a bad thing.
Over my morning tea, I looked across the street and discovered that areas of melting snow now revealed patches of green grass. 鈥淵es!鈥� I proclaimed to myself, 鈥淵es, all is not lost!鈥� Checking along the side of the house I saw that those snapdragons had popped their heads back up, 鈥渟pring must be coming soon!鈥�
My thoughts then turned to the unfailing presence of God鈥檚 love and care. No matter how many layers of pain or discouragement, He鈥檚 there.
鈥淭he eternal God is thy dwelling-place, and underneath are the聽everlasting聽arms鈥︹�� Deuteronomy 33:27
