Winter

It is now the middle of winter, and the snow is falling. The trees seem lifeless and dead, the ground is barren, and the sun's warmth much weaker than it was before now.  Spring and summer can seem so far away, as the whites, blacks, and greys of the season begin to replace the vibrant colors of warmer days.

Life is like this, too.  There are times in our lives when we can find ourselves in a dead spot, when things seem to be falling all around us and relationships feel cold. During these times it can be hard to feel the warmth of hope and to believe that things will get better in the future.  However, just as in the winter, it is during these times that seem dead in our lives that God is working to build new life and to bring forward better things for our future.

Last week, I was feeling the bone-numbing cold of a spiritual dead spot in my life. My marriage seemed, at that moment, to be a hopeless case. My job I had just quit because it, too, seemed destined to go nowhere. My business wasn't taking off as I had hoped, and I wondered if I had made a horrible mistake.  Everything seemed to be dying off in my life, and I felt helpless to do anything about it.

I did the only reasonable thing that I could do in a moment like that, and sought the face of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.  There, as I knelt before the altar praying, I was reminded that there is nothing in our physical world that is not designed to teach us something about the spiritual.  Our spiritual lives, like the physical, will have winters. There will be times when things die off so that God can make room for new things, better things, more beautiful things in our souls.  It will be tempting during those times to lose sight of hope, to forget that the Son is still with us though we may not feel Him close to us.  However, it is during these days of seeming darkness and decay that God is actually doing the greatest work to create in our souls the foundation for a closer relationship with Him.  Refreshed and renewed by my hour, I went home holding springtime in my heart and an important reminder that no matter how dark things get, the darkness will not last forever.