Winter of Discontent

I know I am in the minority, but I love winter. I’ll take cold weather over warm weather any day, and there are few things prettier than a winter’s landscape after freshly fallen snow. Yet, this winter has been more harsh than usual for this part of the country, with multiple cold snaps and more snow in one winter than I can ever remember. It’s enough to make even me, a lover of winter, grumble.

My muscles ache from shoveling snow. The cold temperatures are giving me “cabin fever.” And instead of running through the neighborhood or the local park, I’m stuck running on a treadmill like a hamster in a wheel. But more than all these things combined, I am getting really frustrated with the way wintry weather is messing with my schedule and my productivity.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1

One thing winter does is challenge my obsession with productivity and efficiency. I value time as a commodity to use or lose, and often work myself into a frenzy trying to accomplish more in a given day than humanly possible. And here comes winter, in all its cold, white, icy glory, to slow me down.

Snow – more specifically its effects on our travel – forces us to re-evaluate what is truly necessary. Is it really necessary to keep that meeting or appointment? Is it worth risking getting our car stuck or into an accident to run a few errands? Do we really need to go to the store today? Snow and cold weather remind us that most things we think MUST-BE-DONE-TODAY can wait.

“What gain have the workers from their toil...I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it.” – Ecclesiastes 3:9, 14

Winter frees us from our devotion to productivity and hyperactivity. It reminds us that our work is not as important as we think it is, and thankfully our value to God is not tied to our work and toil. If you haven’t already, take a snow day (also called Sabbath rest); the work can wait for another time.