By Jennifer Christ
Here in Wisconsin the last few Christmases have not been white. This year, however, there was snow the week before the holiday and then the temperature dropped just enough to hold it there, sparkling on our lawns and enhancing the outdoor decorations. The streets and sidewalks were cleaned up in a few days, so travel and daily walks were easy; the magical white blanket held. I had forgotten how delightful a true “white Christmas” is!
The week after Christmas warmed up, and within a few days the pristine blanket began to tatter and shrink. The wet leaves people never got around to raking, muddy flower beds, and even litter from who knows where started to emerge. Beautiful went to a “bad look” rather rapidly. Instead of white, the landscape was gray or brown wherever one looked. The deflated Christmas blow-up’s seemed to say it all. Still, I continued to thank the Lord for the white Christmas, especially since my daughter from California was here when the snow was still lovely and she remembered she was, after all, a Wisconsin girl.
Yesterday as I walked by my bleak gardens, feeling rather dismal, I suddenly remembered all those tulip and daffodil bulbs I had planted earlier in the fall. Exquisite beauty will emerge from this barren ground in a few months time! With that realization I experienced a spark of wonder, anticipation, and hope!
Sometimes in life we go through gray and brown patches when everything seems glum: There are medical issues, financial woes, or disharmony in the family. We pray and try to exercise our “trust muscle,” and yet we wonder when God will move things, will send grace, will heal. Sometimes it feels like we are stuck forever, waiting for our number to be called at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
God’s time is not our time, yet we know every prayer is heard. Life is continually renewing, and the light is greater than the darkness. God makes all things new, and that newness is just waiting in the wings; God’s timing will be just right. If your world is gray/brown today, remember the bulbs beneath the mud! God is always working, even when we don’t know it or see it.
“God’s presence is not discerned at the time when it is upon us, but afterwards when we look back.” John Henry Cardinal Newman
