On Blizzards & Brokenness
Do you ever get the sense that February is both the shortest and longest month of the year? The calendar tells you it's only 28 days, yet between the cold in the air and the cold (and flu) season in your home, it feels like 28 years. The sparkle of Christmas is well behind you, and you begin to realize that the “Winter Blues” are more aptly described as “the winter greys” (in sad lower-case) because you live in Michigan, where everything is monochromatic grey-and-beige, snow-and-slush. In the words of Taylor Swift, you may start to feel that, “All my mornings are Mondays stuck in an endless February.”
This sense of winter woebegone can be particularly acute for those of us who live with disabilities, or who are otherwise homebound. Depression, anxiety, chronic pain, or other mobility issues are just a few of the ailments that, for so many, heighten as the temperatures continue to drop. In my own experience, the physical symptoms of my Cerebral Palsy worsen with any extreme change in the weather, and the winter months in particular are dangerous for me. I fall. A lot. I share this with you to remind us all to pray for our brothers and sisters at Christ Church who aren't able to be with us in person during these cold months, and to encourage connection with one another.
Winter is hard. It can be lonely. Please remember, though - you are not alone. If you are struggling, please reach out. There are many, many people who would be honored to come alongside you. I am one of them. We may not have answers, but we can carry the burden with you.
In Robert Hayden’s poem ‘Ice Storm', the scene is set with a middle-of-the-night blizzard. The narrator watches his field as the storm exerts its vice-like grip over the trees, bending them in its power, and snapping branches with wind and ice. The narrator speaks to God about the destruction he observes. He ends with the following:
“The trees themselves, as in winters past,
will survive their burdening,
broken thrive. And am I less to You,
my God, than they?”
I recite these words as a prayer on those days when my heart is frostbitten, and my muscles ache like ice-laden branches. As in winters past, I will survive this particular burdening of my physical disabilities. And, though broken, through this brokenness, I will thrive because of His sufficient grace to me.
Broken Thrive. That's the Christian life, isn't it?
As Paul reminds us, Christ’s “power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV). God broke into our humanity to bring us the blessing of His saving grace, through the gift of His Son. On the cross, Jesus was broken to make us whole. “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5, ESV). His body was fragmented so that through Him we could know the fullness of life.
Whether you are struggling with a “thorn of the flesh,” or merely the frozen thorns and damaged branches of winter, know that this season will end. Blizzards will yield to blooms. Spring will come. You will thrive.
This coming Sunday is March 1st. A new week. A new month. A new life in Christ.
Praise be to God.