Gray Skies and Winter Flowers

 "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases..."  

(Lamentations 3:22)

Winter can be dreary and depressing, am I right? Most trees have lost their leaves and have become little more than naked branches against a backdrop of gray skies. The grass has gone dormant, leaving the ground a drab palette of brown shades. The chill in the air penetrates into the bones as the wind blows.

But even on the grayest, most dreary days, there are pops of color from winter flowers. Here in the south, we enjoy an extended season of daffodils, camellias, and other flowers that burst forth in bloom.

Winter flowers tell us that winter is almost over. They are a foretaste of what awaits us when spring erupts in new life.

Winter flowers bring joy in the moment, and hope for the future.

When my dear biblical friend Jeremiah scanned the landscape of Jerusalem after it had been sacked by the Babylonians and the people of Judah had been torn away from their homeland and taken into exile, Jeremiah saw nothing but devastation, destruction, and despair. He provided a journal of his own depression and dismay in the book of Lamentations. If ever there was a winter season of the soul, Jeremiah was going through it: “Remember my affliction and bitterness, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.” (Lamentations 3:19-20)

And yet, in the very next breath, Jeremiah finds his own winter flower: 

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’”

(Lamentations 3:21-24)

All of us experience winter seasons of the soul, times when despair, sorrow, and depression are what define our days. But even in the winter of the seasons of our lives, never is there a moment when God’s love and mercy are not being poured out upon us. God’s love is like that winter flower that breaks through the gray and dreary days with bursts of color. God’s love is like that winter flower that promises us winter is not going to last forever, that a renewal of our spirit lies ahead of us. 

I wouldn’t dare to minimize what anybody is experiencing during the winters of their soul. But to those who are going through such a season, I would find a way to help them see the winter flower of my faith: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, God’s mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.

When the skies are gray and the trees are barren, and when the chill of the wind pierces you, look for the winter flowers.