Our storm has begun. As I sit down to write fine tiny crystals of snow are decorating the curled rhododendron outside our front windows. The mountain across the road has disappeared behind a wall of white. Outside the back windows four doves have yet to take shelter as they hunker together under the bird feeder. The governor has declared a curfew and there is a 500 dollar fine for driving in Massachusetts.
Fire is dancing behind the front glass of the woodstove. Soft music fills our rooms mixed with the warm fragrance of baking brownies. It’s a nice place to be. Yet I miss the ferny frost patterns on the insides of the window panes. Double-paned windows have made them relics to be remembered. It was fun to place your finger in the beautiful patterns and watch the ephemera melt away only to return when you finally withdrew your hand.
I find myself amidst all this comfort and yet unsatisfied. While I am here with my very best friend I still miss my mother, father, sisters, sons and grandchildren. Oh to have them all here on this white winter night. Why is it that as blessed as I am I hunger for more? Astronomers now tell us there are over 5 billion potentially inhabitable planets in our galaxy. Will we ever see them all and if so will we still want to see more? We are made in God’s image. Is He also in want of more? Surely He longs for us to be rescued from this place of death and sorrow. Yet is there a quality about Him that wants to make more and more and more. He is a Creator. Will He ever forget those not saved? Will He always miss them? I was just wondering on a cold snowy winter New England evening.
Written by Roger Bothwell on February 9, 2013
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org