I paused for just a moment between tasks and stared deep into my desktop wallpaper.

In the winter months I usually make sure my wallpaper is set to a warm, summer scene.

I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to put myself in that field. It wasn’t hard to do. It wasn’t one of endless flowers, there was no wildlife in the picture, no foreign trees or Caribbean beaches that would have been difficult to find. Just a few oak trees in the distance and lots of tall, Midwestern grass.

With my eyes closed I left my cold kitchen for a moment. I could smell the fresh spring air, feel the wide blades of grass Velcro to my fingers. I remembered the sensation of a warm breeze mingled with sunshine on my face and neck.

I smiled and sighed. Spring will be back. It always comes back. It will come with the hyacinths and the warm soil, the earthworms and the puddles they’ll die in after a fresh spring shower. It will come back with the sun’s smiles and the promise of warm summer nights not far behind.

And I realized that I probably wouldn’t appreciate the spring like I should if I weren’t forced to endure a winter for three of every twelve months. For all my talk of abandoning Chicagoland to live some place warmer, I think I’d devalue Spring if not for Winter.

Take a step back.

This world is Winter.

One day, as sure as a spring is born from every winter, death will loose it’s grip, and new life will emerge from thawed soil, from seeds planted in faith so many years before.

One day, the gray winter skies will be torn in two by a different Son, and every face will turn to meet His light.

This world of cold and death will give way, in due time, to a new world, a new King, a new spring breeze, a fresh life. And that spring will eventually yield to a summer that will have no need of a celestial sun, and yet never suffer a dark night – to a summer, a life, that will never end.

Winter’s not all bad. There are fresh snow falls and Christmas parties and hot chocolate and warm mittens and snow boards. And neither is the this world all bad, but it will end and I wonder if we long for that day like we sometimes long for the first rays of spring. I wonder if it’s as real in our hearts.

I’ve changed my wallpaper to a simple piece I made with Revelation 21:4,

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

And now, when I’m cold or tired or discouraged, I pause, stare deeply into my desktop wallpaper, close my eyes, and try to put myself in that field.