Thursday, December 2, 2010

Why do we have winter?

When I lived in Tennessee, winter wasn't so bad.  In Kansas City, winter has sharper teeth.  Since April, many of my days have been spent working on the garden in one way or another, but now that's ending.  There's not much more I can do in the garden (not to mention it's really cold).  The plants are all pulled up, I've gotten the ground ready for Spring, the leaves are raked for the compost pile, and there's nothing growing.  There's no prospect of garden fresh vegetables in the near future.  We're savoring our last few tomatoes that we picked green and ripened inside, but that's it.

It makes me ask God why we even have winter in the first place.  There's so much joy in the work and eating the fruit, but we've got to stop.  Well, the work stops, but the dreaming doesn't.  Once you've tasted peppers and tomatoes that fresh, it's hard to forget it.  Canned tomatoes and frozen peppers are good, but they still don't compare.  There's the longing there for freshness, and God made it that way.

Then the disciples of John came to [Jesus], saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast." - Matthew 9:14-15

Humanity got a glimpse of God in the flesh through Jesus.  We tasted of the gentleness and meekness of God in a baby born in a manger, and viewed the Almighty crucified, resurrected and ascended to the right hand of God.  He is the eternal Bridegroom, and He was here with us for a time.  Our hunger was awakened, and we've been given an appetite to be with Him again on the earth.  We mourn because we miss Him, and long for His return.  As clearly as we can imagine the smell of the tomato vines and the taste of fresh peas, we want the Man Chris Jesus to be with us here on the earth.  Spring prophesies that the winter doesn't last forever, and Jesus will return to the earth.  But until that day, we long for His return...