Winter’s almost over

It’s chilly, and snow lingers on the ground. But winter’s almost over.

From a TV show I haven’t watched, a line from an early episode became a meme on social media: WINTER IS COMING. And of course, it’s true: winter IS coming. Even as the current winter fades, we can be sure that another will come around before we know it.

I get the message: brace yourselves, stock up on necessities, times will be hard.

But this is hardly news. Haven’t we always known this? Hasn’t the human race always known this?

What people really need is a message of hope: winter’s almost over. The winds are less bitter, the nighttime temperatures less frigid. There’s no longer a need to wrap myself in wool right up to my cheekbones (and almost down to them too) before daring the outdoors.

It’s not quite spring, exactly. Nothing much is sprouting, and the only birds in the trees are the ones that stayed with us the whole season. But old snow has melted, and green peeps through. Sunbeams stand up straighter.

There is good news. Winter is almost over.

As in nature, so in the spirit. In the depths of humanity’s winter, good news was proclaimed: this present evil age is almost over.

The changes started small. Hearts of stone were melted. A few, then a few thousand… then these people spread the good news all over the known world.

Many hearts are still cold to this day. But imperceptibly, a warmth spreads, like roots underground.

"The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." (Mark 4:26-29, ESV)

There is still much darkness and coldness. But when this winter is over, there will never be another.