Just Beneath the Bitter Snow

If absence makes the heart grow fonder, then we Ohioans are truly ready for some warmer weather!  I've determined in my heart that I am not going to complain about the weather we've been given!  Growing up in Md. we'd get a rough winter on a rare occurrence but even then the heavy snows would melt and warmer weather would come back pretty quickly relatively speaking.

But I married a newspaper man and he took me even further south with his job.  We lived down south for the first six years of our marriage.  That just meant an occasional dusting of snow or some ice.  Again the cold would be there briefly and it would warm up to the 40's or even the 50's.  Then we moved from our beautiful home in Tn. to Buffalo, NY!  So that was kind of a shock!  We did live just above the snow belt so when the "south towns" got dumped on, we got significantly less snow! It was frigid in the winter, but being Buffalo, it was expected and you just toughened up and got through it! School cancellations because of snow where a rarity.  And don't park out on the street because the snow plows needed to get through!

Now fast forward to our family living in NE Ohio.  This year marks our fifth year to experience winter here in Ohio.  I've got to say this past winter of Nov2013- March 2014 has been the longest, coldest and snowiest winter of my life!  I think because I have determined to not be a complainer I have looked for what could be the positives from all this snow and cold.  So the following will be my observations and my lessons I'm learning during this winter of my life.

For starters when snow comes to the south it's usually right around freezing or just a little below.  I know this winter just about everywhere has been much harder for everyone. (I just saw a friend posted from Texas they just went from 80 degrees on Saturday to 19 degrees  and snow on the ground on Sunday!)  So I know this harsh winter is  not just here in Ohio!  But when the temperatures drop to the teens or single digits the snow does something absolutely stunningly beautiful.  There are these diamonds in the snow.  It's beautiful and it's harsh at the same time!  Out of something so cold and extreme can come something so breathtakingly beautiful!  I've tried capturing it in photos and I just can't get it with the capabilities I have anyway.  But every time I see that beauty I'm reminded of Heaven!  Maybe because my Mom is there and I am sure  there are some siblings that Michael has up there too.  But in the harshness of this life there is something beautiful to cling to!  Heaven!  It is way more dear to my heart theses days!


Another thing observed this winter, goes back to last winter.  I had trimmed our rose bushes a little too much in the Fall of 2012.  When Spring/Summer of 2013 came There was no life in those rose bushes. I had done them in. But rather than dig them up and get rid of them I decided to see if they would come back with some prodding.  Two of the three did come back, but it took all summer for them to come back to life!  Finally at the tail end of summer, no actually this was late in Oct. my one rose bush got 6 huge buds!  I checked on them daily, waiting, hoping in joyful expectation of when those buds would open up and bloom.  They never did bloom and I in fear never did trim back those rose bushes this past Fall.  When Thanksgiving rolled around those buds were still there and I have a picture of 3 pumpkins by the rose bush with a dusting of snow on the ground.  All winter long I've looked out the front window and have seen those huge rose buds covered in snow!  There's a song entitled The Rose   The last verse of the song is as follows:

 When the night has been too lonely

And the road has been too long,

And you think that love is only

For the lucky and the strong,

Just remember in the winter

Far beneath the bitter snows

Lies the seed that with the sun's love

In the spring becomes the rose.

Regeneration is the name of a group my brother and I listened to during the late 70's and early 80's s. They sang a version of The Rose that I still remember to this day, because at the end of that last verse they added "Oh love of God how rich and pure.  It shall forever more endure.  Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snow, lies the seed that with the SON's love in the spring becomes the rose.

Simply and honestly I am so thankful that with the love of Jesus in my life and in yours too, that He makes all things new!  I think after this longest, coldest and snowiest of winters of my life that Spring holds a greater promise!  Looking for the blooms to blossom and it won't be long now!

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