WINTER'S COMING

When I was a child growing up, I remember much harder winters than we have now. During the winter of 1976-77, we were out of school for six weeks. (My oldest brother assures me that he remembers this year well, as it started snowing on New Year's Eve, was followed by an ice storm and we didn't go back to school until the first week of February. He didn't get to graduate until June 8th because of it...I can see why it's imprinted on his mind:)

It seems every year, our winters get milder and milder. Yet, without fail, we will have a few really harsh weeks, which always catch us by surprise and cause us to run scurrying to make sure we have enough staples in the cabinet and propane in the gas tank outside. Living in the country, we also have an annual family wood cutting day (much to our kids' delight).

We have church in the middle of the day on Sundays and so my husband and I have a Sunday morning ritual. After breakfast we make "the rounds", checking on our horses and cows. This morning, we drove through the gate and, as usual, my husband started honking the horn at the cows. They heard this welcome sound and came running from the distant hills, eager for the feed that they knew was in his vehicle.

As I sat in the Jeep watching them shuffle for a place at the feeders, I smiled to myself, remembering just a few months earlier. It had also been a Sunday morning and we had come through the gate honking the horn, but to my husband's frustration, the cows wouldn't pay him any attention. He honked. He yelled. He banged on the feeders...nothing. I distinctly remember thinking to myself at the time, Just wait, winter's coming.

You see, I knew something those fat, lazy, content cows didn't. It won't always be summer. The grass won't always be tender and green. The skies won't always be blue. Winter is coming and when it does, content cows become hungry cows.

Isn't it the same with us? God beckons to us. He honks. He yells. He bangs on the feeders...nothing. We have become fat, lazy and content in the spirit. We have forgotten that it won't always be summer, the grass won't always be tender and green and the skies won't always be blue. God knows something else that we have forgotten -winter is coming and when it does, content saints become hungry saints.