Recent Reflections - April 2018: A Lesson Learned From The Never-Ending Winter

This is the fourth Recent Reflections post of 2018.  Recent Reflections goes live the third Friday or Saturday of each month.  Each Recent Reflections post covers something that I'm reflecting on.  If you'd like to share a post with a similar theme, feel free to leave a comment with a link to your post, and I'll hop on over and leave a comment (and maybe some other readers will, too).

This month, I will be reflecting on a lesson learned from our never-ending winter.

This is a picture of our front yard on Monday, April 2nd, 2018.

We'd had a beautiful day and were able to clean up the rest of the brush from our tree removal and get started on our sidewalk removal, and we began to make tentative plans to start on some much needed house maintenance (namely beginning to scrape the wood siding down so we can paint it).

This is a picture of our yard on Wednesday, April 4, 2018.

As you can see, we got a bit of snow...Over 9 inches.

This threw our talks of house maintenance out the window.  The snow started to melt in a few days, and by Friday, April 13, 2018, our yard looked like this:

We thought again about maintenance plans....

Until Saturday, April 14th, 2018, when we woke up to this:

This time we'd gotten over a foot of snow and ice pellets.

(My husband is pointing to where the ruler is buried in the snow/ice pellets, FYI.)

On Monday, April 16, 2017, our yard looked like this:

I tried to measure the snow/ice pellets with a tape measure, but it wouldn't go through the snow/ice.  I did measure inside a footprint, and along a walk edge, and it was over 13 inches, and the end of the measuring tape wasn't even down to the ground, so it is safe to say we got quite a lot!  According to the news, we'd gotten 14 inches by the 14th, and we'd gotten a bit since then, so I think between a foot and a half  to 2 feet is probably pretty close to right.

Anyway, it is quite depressing to see over a foot of snow where you'd seen the beginnings of green grass just the day before.  It overwhelms the heart, and it makes you want to yell, "Ok, Winter!  You had your turn!  It's Spring's time to shine!"  Through this hard time, though, God has taught me something that I thought worthy of sharing with you.  It's about change.

(Note: I'm not talking about change in regards to convictions or morality (i.e. things that you should not change or compromise on), but in regards to life-changing events that can't be helped or things that are new or different.)

We don't like change.  We fight against it.  We struggle with the idea of "different".  We get comfortable and content, and we hate when things start to evolve into a thing we don't recognize.  We struggle to hold on to the past, and we do our dead-level best to keep things the same.  But when we do this, we are like this never-ending winter.

We tell ourselves that we like the way things are currently.  We love the beauty of what is just like we like the beautiful white snow, the snuggle times with loved ones in the warm indoors, the building of snowmen, the snowball fights, the hot cocoa, the winter fun...and we forget that beauty can also come from change.  We forget that a spring is coming with all its new life, beautiful scents, cleansing rains, gorgeous flowers, and warm sunny days.  All we can think about is that we have to let go of the beauty we know for the unknown that is to come.

When we struggle to hold on, we're just like this stubborn winter.  We don't realize that we're hurting those we love, we're causing chaos, and we are just downright miserable and making other miserable, too.  If we'd just let go - if we'd just relax into the change that God has allowed to come into our lives - we would find that there is something beautiful waiting to take the place of what will be lost.

Oh, change is never easy.  It can be messy and hard, just like spring is messy with it's mud and rain.  But, oh, what loveliness is on the other side of that mess!  Without the thawing of the cold, hard ground that brings the mud there'd be no new grass or flowers.  Without the rain, new life would not grow.  Without the warmth, we'd never see all the beauty that awaits.  Change isn't easy, but it's worth it.

I don't know what you may be facing in your life, but there is probably a change going on somewhere for you.  Don't fight it like this never-ending winter.  Let God use it to show you a new beauty, a new beginning, and a new hope.  Trust Him with the details, and do your best to enjoy the ride.  It may be hard at times, but it will be worth it in the end.  I promise.

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the Master calls a butterfly." - Richard Bach

I truly hope this post has been a blessing to your heart!  What has God done in your life lately to bless you?  What are you reflecting on?

Have a wonderful weekend!

(This post was originally posted on my original site, Fibro, Fit and Fab!)