Hope in Winter

Fall has begun to find its way here to Vermont. I love it. Fall is one of my favorite times of the year here. Leggings and a T shirt will do most days. Yet I can still wear my favorite shoes my crocs with socks if need be. 
     Last night I sat by a camp fire with friends on one of the first cool nights we had, I was noticing how much I Love fall in New England. But not everyone is a fan of fall. A few years ago I stood in my mother in laws yard looking at the first few leafs starting to show signs of color change. My mother in law told me she hates fall. I stood in shock how any one could hate fall in Vermont. People come from all over the world to see fall in New England.
I  questioned her as to why she hated fall? She replied because I know what comes after. Winter ! 
Winter in Vermont is so long and hard! I laughed, I understand but I just try and enjoy a good season while we have it. Stock up the joy of cool fall mornings wrapped in a blanket, a mug in hand filled with hot tea and a bowel of apple pie for breakfast. Who does not like Pie for breakfast?
     Seasons do change and I too like my mother in law understand what comes after fall in Vermont. Shorter days, longer nights, snow that covers the ground like a down filled blanket. Ice sake rinks where driveways once stood. Temps so cold your nose freezes together when you breath in the frozen air.

    Life is full of seasons that change and not just the one that change the colors of the trees, but seasons of life. Seasons are just a frame of time in life. The time passes and then season change. Like now, Fall is just starting but before I know it leggings and a T shirts will be just one of the many lairs I put on before I walk out the door to face the cold dark winter days.

There Is a Time for Everything
Ecclesiastes 3:1-5 

1 There is a time for everything, and everything on earth has its special season. 2 There is a time to be born and a time to die. There is a time to plant and a time to pull up plants. 3 There is a time to kill and a time to heal. There is a time to destroy and a time to build. 4 There is a time to cry and a time to laugh. There is a time to be sad and a time to dance. 5 There is a time to throw away stones and a time to gather them. 

I love verse 5, that is a wonderful picture of fall in Vermont. A time to throw out stuff that will not be helpful and a time to gather before winter sets in.
 We can apply this truth to own spiritual life too. We have season of plenty and times of want. During the fall seasons of our spiritual life we need to throw out the waste in our life. The things in our life that take up space, because winter will come. A time when nothing new is growing. A time when there is nothing in our life that is giving us warmth. Sometimes in the dead of Winter here we will have two or three days where it is not safe to go out of the house. You have to use what you have in the house. Snow is up to the doorways. Most good Vermonters will have a stockpile to take from during those days. A wood pile outside their doorways to fed the wood-stove. Can goods they have put way during the fall harvest. Outside Winter may be having its way but inside the true Vermonters home it has no place. Rather they sit with mug and hand and mouth full of mothers sweet apple pie made from the apple stockpile that was picked during the fall season. We as believer need to stockpile the Word of God at the door way of our heart so that during the long dark spiritual season of winter we have a resources to pull from. It is a common things for people to freeze to death here in New England because they did not have enough fuel to burn. They did not plan ahead for winters dark days. Such a good truth for us believers to hear that we all have to plan ahead for the hard times. As the writer of Ecclesiastes knew life has seasons. We just need to be prepared for the seasons change.
I love fall because I too know what comes after Winter.. I am just thankful God has given us a chance to prepare for winter. Being Chronically ill you have to stock pile during those good days. Remember the warm day light of Autumn during the long days of pain that keeps you in bed for days. The promise the sun will shine again. Like cold winter months in Vermont it may be weeks or even months between a good day. But for those of us that trust in Christ we know that one day there will be no more pain, no more tears, no more long winter nights where the hope for sunshine seems out of reach. We have hope for Spring to come! A new day, A new body not riddled with pain and sickness. But whole and healthy! If it was not for that hope I have trust in I would never make it through the days of winter my physical illness causes.
Are you prepare? What have you put your hope in? Winter is just a season for those have put their hope in Christ!