Each season is a smorgasbord of life lessons, and Winter is no exception.
For me, She is a profound teacher of faith, perseverance, and endurance.
She challenges our senses with her sub zero temperatures, barren landscapes, days of darkness, and plenty of solitude and stillness. Like many spiritual traditions, She uses abstinence and physical discomfort to challenge the limits our minds, bodies, and spirits.
The lessons we take from winter are relevant to both our historical and geographical perspectives. Modern winters, with cars, central heat, running water, and an abundant food supply, seem like “easy street” when compared to the winters of our ancestors. Can you imagine living through a harsh winter prior to the advent of heat, indoor plumbing, electricity, technology, and modern food supplies? I cannot even begin to comprehend the depth of their challenges and tests of endurance. Truly those who lived before us had a very different experience of this snowy season, and I cannot help but think that many of them grew closer to God, in search of the Faith and Hope to endure their hardships.
In our world based on comfort and ease, we are often removed from the environmental experiences of our ancestors. However, somewhere and somehow, the emotions associated with the hardships of Winter can find a way to seep into our lives. They may accompany a medical diagnosis, the death of a loved one, loss of financial security or even a relocation. Regardless of their source, at some point we may find ourselves in “the winter of our lives,” when the life that we have known and depended on, seems to disappear. Then, like our ancestors, we will have the opportunity to discover the Faith, Hope and Trust that evolves from surviving this Season.
