He made both the summer and the winter

The snow is falling, keeps falling, inch after inch piling on our still-leafed trees. The weight of the snow is heavy, and the branches bend beneath the blanket. They bend, but they do not break--yet.  But the snow keeps coming and I wonder if they will be able to bear the burden.

My soul begin this wintry month with your God.  The cold snows and the piercing winds all remind you that He keeps His covenant with day and night, and tend to assure you that He will also keep that glorious agreement which He has made with you in the person of Christ Jesus.  He who is true to His Word in the revolutions of seasons of this poor sin-polluted world will not prove unfaithful in His dealings with His own dearly-loved Son.

Winter in the soul is by no means a comfortable season, and if it is upon you just now it will be very painful to you: but there is this comfort, namely, that the Lord makes it happen. He sends sharp blasts of adversity to nip the buds of expectation.  He scatters the hoarfrost like ashes over the once verdant meadows of our joy.  He releases His ice like morsels freezing the streams of our delight. He does it all; He is the great Winter King, and rules in the realms of frost. Therefore, you cannot murmur.  Losses, crosses, heaviness, sickness, poverty, and a thousand other ills, are of the Lord's sending, and come to us with wise design.  

Frosts kill noxious insects, and limit raging diseases; they break up the clods, and sweeten the soul. O that such good results would always follow our winters of affliction!


How we prize the fire just now! How pleasant its cheerful glow is! Let's in the same manner prize our Lord, who is the constant source of warmth and comfort in every time of trouble. Let's approach Him, and in Him find joy and peace in believing. Let's wrap ourselves in the warm garments of His promises, and accomplish tasks appropriate to the season, for it is unwise to be as the lazy person who won't plow because it is too cold, for he shall beg in summer and have nothing. - Charles Spurgeon, December 1st, Morning & Evening

The branch, inches of snow later, still holds but now touches the ground below.  It may still break from the load. But if it does?

The tree will still stand. And in the spring,  more nourishment rushing to other limbs, free from the weight of a branch that couldn't withstand the winter.  And the tree itself?

A tree shaped, pruned, refined by the great Winter King.

We sit snug in our home watching the snow fall, the branch bend, and the warmth of flickering candles, the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree, the glow from the winter white through our window, the flame of Advent, heat our bodies and our souls.

Today marks the beginning of our Advent journey. Won't you join us?  The journey starts at the beginning,  will lead you to pause in worship before an infant babe, and will continue until you are kneeling before the cross.  For all Christmas really is, is a stop on the journey to Calvary.