One thing I can say I LOVE about the winter, is the chance I am given to see the stars so much more clearly than any other time of year (when the sky is clear, that is).

Over the years I have come to adore gazing at the night sky. It is like an open cathedral where I can go and meet with God; a place of freedom and hope that is bursting with the Lord's Presence and quietly beckons us all to take note of the majesty, wonder and goodness of God.

The winter gives more room for the heavens to be displayed; a precious chance to get a closer look at the Lord's splendor and glory.

There is also a quiet stillness that seems to remove distractions and allows for greater clarity in the winter.

I imagine the dead of winter as a time where the bare trees take a back seat to the sky and land all around them, and seem to almost stand in wonder as they observe God's glory all around them while they rest.

Winter is a time of waiting, it seems to me, but can also be a time of immense growth; a time of learning to endure through the cold. All of creation must take up patience as we look toward the warmth and new life that will come with the Spring.

There is something holy and mysterious about winter, and I dare say, God speaks to us through its presence. I know He speaks to ME through it, anyway.

 
He speaks to me through it about long-suffering, of reflection and of being still before Him; nestling into His arms out of greater necessity, as the gray skies often demand our endurance.

You learn the secret of being satisfied in the Lord when all else is stripped away.

A stripping down of all that was, taken down to the bare minimum for clarity's sake.

A shivering soul knows well its need for the warmth of God's loving Presence.

And so, while I often complain about the extremely low temperatures, the gray skies that often come, the browning of the grass, and the shortness of the daylight hours, when I step back I can see the lessons I believe the Lord is teaching through the times and seasons He has created.

I feel compelled by the Lord to appreciate the place and time I am every moment, with or without favorable circumstances and in spite of my own personal preferences.

I see that the growth I have a chance to embrace, the endurance and patience I am forced to take up, the strength I gain, the need I feel for greater dependency upon God, and the year's clearest vision of the beautiful stars, all make the downsides of winter well worth it.

"The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world."
- Psalm 19:1-4 ESV