Winter Is Coming
When I moved to Los Angeles, my friend and college classmate Michael Watson gave me some counsel that I have never forgotten. He warned me to “pay attention and to stay focused.” I must confess that I wasn’t particularly overwhelmed by the depth of his advice. It struck me as pretty obvious and profoundly unhelpful. But knowing that he is a scientist by trade and training, I knew that his counsel contained some unsuspecting depths. I asked him to elaborate. And therein lay the riches. He said I needed to pay attention and stay focused in Los Angeles “because the seasons don’t change. Since it’s 70 degrees more than 300 days of the year, it seems and feels like it’s always summer. And when it seems and feels like it’s always summer, it’s easy to lose track of time.” Los Angeles is a lovely city. But living here can also be dangerously seductive, because it can fool you into thinking that it’s always summer.
Of course, many people prefer that it always be summer. As I wrote in a blog earlier this year, “During the summertime, days are longer, dresses are shorter, and the ice seems colder. During the summertime, blockbuster movies hit the theaters. During the summertime, airports get more crowded and supermarkets shelves get emptier. As the pre-Chris Rock slap Will Smith once rhapsodized with his compatriot DJ Jazzy Jeff, summertime is when “the temperature's about 88/Hop in the water plug just for old times sake/Break to your crib change your clothes once more/ Cause you're invited to a barbecue that's startin' at 4.” But it cannot always be summertime. Seasons are stitched into the fabric of the universe. In Genesis 8:22, God promised Moses that “as long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
Game of Thrones is one of my favorite television shows of all time. It’s tagline should be stamped not only in our heads but also on our hearts: winter is coming. If the days are longer during the summer, they are shorter during the winter. If the dresses are shorter in the summer, they are longer during the winter. If the ice seems colder in the summer, it never melts during the winter. During the winter, bears hibernate. During the winter, plants die. During the winter, productivity wanes. During the winter, travel delays increase. Winter is not only a season of weather, it is also a season of our lives. Winter comes to all of us, regardless of where we live.
Not only does winter come to all of us. Winter also comes in many forms. In the opening monologue of Shakespeare’s Richard III, the soon to be crowned king declares “Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York.” Richard was referring to himself, and declaring that his imminent reign would end the brutal wars that had affected his family and the nation of England. Readers of the play know that this did not happen. The winter of their discontent would only worsen. Alas, winter comes. Winter comes as discontentment. Winter comes as frustration. Winter comes as loneliness. Winter comes as nonproductivity. Winter comes as rejection. Winter comes as abandonment. Winter comes as failure. Winter comes as uncertainty. Winter comes as betrayal. Winter comes as miscalculation. Winter comes as regret.
Winter is coming. And when winter arrives, we must remember the words of Psalm 74:12-17. The Psalmist declares:
You, O God, are my king from ages past, bringing salvation to the earth. You split the sea by your strength and smashed the heads of the sea monsters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan and let the desert animals eat him. You caused the springs and streams to gush forth, and you dried up rivers that never run dry. Both day and night belong to you; you made the starlight and the sun. You set the boundaries of the earth, and you made both summer and winter.
When winter comes, we must remember that God made summer and winter. Winter is God’s work. God is not only the author of productivity. God is the author of nonproductivity. God is not only the architect of sunshine. God is also the architect of gloom. God is not only the engineer of heat. God is also the engineer of cold. God made them both. And since God made them both, both are important. Both are necessary. And both serve a purpose.
So here’s my question for you today: how do you act or react when winter comes? Do you carp? Complain? Cuss? Compare? When winter comes, remember that God has designed winters for our welfare. Winter is God’s work.
And guess what? God still works during the winter!