January 2005

Winter Rose

The ice covered every inch of my car. Although the roads were clear, the cold winter night found me with an ice scraper in hand, chipping off the quarter-inch of ice that stood between me and my nice warm bed back at home. The ice storm had blasted the upper Willamette Valley over the weekend and it was COLD.

However, someone forgot to tell my large yellow rose that it had bloomed a few months too early. For all it knows, we are in the middle of a warm spring. This strange anomaly started a few weeks ago when a small patch of yellow next to my front door caught my eye. When I went over to investigate, I was astonished to discover a rose was blooming in the middle of winter. My winter rose. I think God gave it to me to remind me of beauty when all I can see is bare trees and mud. When I come home, I love to dip my face into its petals to feel their softness brush gently against my face and to fully breath in its aromatic fragrance. For such a small thing, it does a lot to remind me that this world is indeed lovely and worth exploring. When I have had a hard day, it tells me of God's glory and how He is so much larger than anything I will face. My precious winter rose. Is it not amazing the little gifts God gives us that make a world of difference? Is it not amazing how he can touch us with the petal of a rose as well as tongues of fire? How even in the darkest night, He gives us a great light?

God can use people too to be lights in our darkness. I think He brings them into our lives to remind us of who He is, that He loves us no matter what we are going through or what we have done. They bring joy into our lives when it seems hope has walked out, they comfort us with love when we are pained by troubles. I pray you all have such friends in your lives for they are living winter roses. When hearts are aching, they can cheer the dreariest of days.

The really neat thing about winter roses though, is that we can be winter roses for each other. We are gifted by our loving creator to uplift, encourage, teach, and comfort those around us. We can be someone who listens, who passes on a smile even when we ourselves would rather frown. We can love with the love of God even while we are learning not to hate. We can be the spring in someone else's winter. We can be the ice scraper that takes the ice off of someone else's heart. Isn't this a glorious thing? Perhaps today is the day to start planting some of those seeds.

"You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning;

my God turns darkness into light.

With your help I can advance against a troop;

with my God I can scale a wall."

Psalm 18:28-29

In Christ,

Sarah Katreen Hoggatt

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Last Updated: 12/30/2011