Winters in Minnesota are, well, different. For our family, after six years in Texas, they were very different. When snow falls in Texas, it’s gone next week. In Minnesota, it’s gone next April.
I wondered how people would deal with such long winters. Growing up in Pennsylvania, we loved snow, knowing it would be gone soon, and after a few short weeks of sleds and snow forts, we were thinking baseball.
But in Minnesota, winter is a verb–not an annoyance to be tolerated, but a lifestyle to be embraced. Frozen lakes were dotted with fish houses, and the park trails groomed for cross country skiing. There were forest snowmobile adventures, farm pond skating parties, and weekend sledding events on snow packed hillsides.
There is no bad weather, only poor clothing choices, and so with boots, down jackets, and sports gear, we made peace with the cold. Come March, we were more than ready for spring! But something about those long, chilly nights made the summers that much sweeter.
As even the thickest ice surrenders to warm breezes, our own freeze-up is now beginning to thaw. We can’t wait. Freedom will be sweet. But as Paul wrote from his own lockdown (Colossians 4:2-6), I hope we’ve made the most of our opportunities. I pray we’ve wintered well.
“Father, as we begin to see and hear signs of reopening, we ask that this trial will not have been wasted on us. We pray that what we have experienced will help with future tests as well. In the name of Jesus. Amen.”