Why Do We Call It The "Dead of Winter"?

Nothing seems to be happening. No one is outside if they don't have to be. No sound of children playing, birds singing, or radios blasting as the cars go by. Nothing, nada, nil. And yet, so much is really happening. In winter, plants and animals are resting, some actually sleeping. Plants and trees drop their seeds and many of those must undergo a necessary winter process called stratification to be viable in the spring . Insects reduce their populations (thank God!)

The seasonal snow is a critical part of Earth's climate system. Snow cover helps regulate the temperature of the Earth's surface, and once that snow melts, the water helps fill rivers and reservoirs in many regions of the world. And in the big, big picture, the earth is moving around the sun, bringing the changes of our weather. Winter is hardly "dead' - just in a God-ordained cycle of life that keeps everything in balance and moving forward.

We have seasons and cycles in our journey with God. Some quiet and meditative, some loud and filled with changes and challenges. You've read the passage in Ecclesiastes, right? Everything has it's time, it's season - each filled with His purposes and plans. He is never sleeping, always working, always speaking to us, always in control. We can embrace every season of our life as a necessary part of moving forward with God. No "dead of winter" for us!

"For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven." Eccl. 3:1-8