We mark our lives by seasons, here in New England.
With the arrival of late January, and a fresh blanket of new-fallen snow upon the ground; with Christmas behind us, weather events regularly invading our weekly schedules, and seasonal coughs and chills descending upon our households and children, it is undeniable: the heart of winter is upon us.
There is cold, and there is dark in winter, but there is beauty, too. As the sun rises to illuminate the tall, fragile white pines, capped and cold with snow, the scene bursts into view with light and breathtaking clarity. We find that even here in the cold, sleeping season of creation, the Lord gives us pause to stop and find our hearts gladdened by the good and beautiful with which he yet surrounds us, by his grace.
And then in late February, at the very moment that we will be tempted to despair that Winter may never leave us, we know even then that it is yet nearly past. Even now, the days lengthen and the sun does its work. The world will, inevitably and soon, once again spring to life and this season will have passed us by. And the temptation we must constantly beware amidst this, our seasonal world, is the temptation to wish our fleeting days away one day, and season, at a time.
In the hands of Christ every moment we are given is grace, and a gift. Even the sniffling, chilling, cold and dark of our northern midwinter bursts with grace and warmth and invitation to praise. Grace, if we might only come to fix the gaze of our all-too fleeting days upon that humming, beckoning light of Jesus' eternal courts and life-giving embrace.
Eternity does not wait for us to arrive, you see. But like that Father gathering up his flowing garments in order to better run and catch up into his arms his once-lost son, eternity in Christ works backward - runs backward to meet us - even now in the midst of our cold and fleeting, mundane and sniffling days. Moment by moment, Heaven draws near. Dare we become aware of God's nearness, today?
This is the promise. This is our life, in Christ. This is why we pray: "Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven."