DE Ponderings by Kevin Kessler

To say that this winter was harsh is an understatement. Peoria, the closest weather station to Canton, reported record snowfall for the area. Based on my own observation, this winter was downright cold!!! I wore out a snow shovel (actually it broke not from overuse but from being old and brittle). I made a few trips this winter on roads that were less than safe due to snowy, windy, and icy conditions. Scheduling meetings was a challenge because we were unsure if weather would permit traveling to the meeting site. Frequently I heard grumbling about this winter and I, at times, groused a little, too. Okay, maybe more than a little.

If anything can be learned from this winter, it may be something as simple as the fact that this season of the year is unpredictable. Having enjoyed several mild winters, we may have anticipated yet another one. But, as we know, such was not the case.

Enduring a difficult winter fuels our desire for springtime. We look forward to green grass, using mowers instead of snow blowers, walking outside rather than in a rec center, and enjoying emerging plants and flowers. I can express my elation at the sight of light lavender and deep purple crocus blooming in the flower bed next to our house. Feeling warmth in southern breezes as opposed to the biting chill of northwest winds is certainly a welcome relief as well. Ah, the joy of spring after the misery of winter! How pleasing to see and experience resurrection!

The seasons of the year can be related to life. The winter of life is that time when death encroaches. Death, like winter, is not predictable either. Sometimes death comes gently and at other times is violent and difficult; and always it comprises a degree of discomfort. Winter days of life can include physical weakness, reduction of cognitive ability, desires to do what used to be done but can no longer be accomplished, the need to be absent from ongoing activities. This pain is felt by the one whose life is racing toward completion as well as those who see their loved one preparing for transition, for death.

Difficulties associated with the winter of life have the capacity to stimulate a desire for resurrection. We know from experience that springtime will cycle into place after each winter. The experience of resurrection, although not known, is a certain hope.

Philip Yancey includes a chapter on resurrection in his book The Jesus I Never Knew. In the closing paragraph of the chapter Yancey suggests that the disciples had a change in perspective “as they sat in locked rooms discussing the incomprehensible events of Easter Sunday. In one sense nothing had changed: Rome still occupied Palestine, religious authorities still had a bounty on their heads, death and evil still reigned outside. Gradually, however, the shock of recognition gave way to a long slow undertow of joy. If God could do that...”

If God could do what the disciples experienced on that first Easter, then, surely, there is hope for a new spring following the season of death. Surely!