Winter Love (since saying “Loving Winter” would involve prevarication)

It’s winter.  It’s February.  It’s drab and grey and flabby around here.  Not to mention cold.

I’d really prefer using words like soil, warmth, barefoot, green, and swimming but let’s face it.  Those words have gone dormant.  It’s the time of year when you just have to hold on and keep walking, one coffee-sloshed, fuzzy-socked step at a time.

Sometimes a little creativity helps.  I needed a wreath for the front door to replace the Christmas one that stayed up too long and then disappeared leaving only a bare, black wreath hanger in its place for an even longer time.  Before Christmas, I noticed a darling play house in the Pottery Barn Kids magazine that included miniature wreaths on all the windows.  They looked like mini cotton balls strung in a line and then formed in a circle and I wondered, could I do something with cotton balls on a larger scale?  It turns out that gluing hundreds of cotton balls onto a wreath form is mindless handwork and, better yet, it’s quick.  Mindless and quick are strong, good words that evoke happy emotions after a long morning of homeschooling when a to do list stares at your face.

Even when it’s quick, mindless, and doesn’t require skill, creating a little bit of something always feels refreshing.  Maybe because it stays finished for a little bit, unlike the beds that get unmade, the floors that get dirty minutes after sweeping, and the dishes that hop back out onto the counters within hours.  Maybe because there is an intense longing for beauty inside all of us and creating something that adds beauty breathes life into our spirit.

Unlike the doll house version, the grown up version didn’t look complete without a little embellishment.  I didn’t have anything on hand (I thought) and I really didn’t feel like buying anything for winter when we’re on the verge of spring. But then one day I needed to put a few odds and ends away and I thought …………………….

Cha Ching!  So here it is.  A very simple wreath that makes our doorway feel happy.  Even if the door hasn’t seen a drop of paint in all its thirty years of life.

Speaking of cold and winter, I think I’ve finally learned how to stay warm.  I’d asked for advice here, and someone questioned me about my coat.  Well, the truth is, my coat has seen a lot of wear and a lot of the inside of the washer and it really wasn’t very warm.  I’d been eyeing a coat at the Columbia outlet, but when your income switches to a living allowance you think a lot more often about spending $159 on a coat.  Don’t get me wrong.  We’re doing fine and the board was very gracious in making sure our living allowance covered what we need, especially in regards to Liam’s food allergies and the way that spikes our grocery bills.  But, it does make you think twice about what you need and what you can do without.  Needs and wants just get defined a little differently.  Well, the very next morning my email dinged when I was still in bed.  I groggily stopped by the computer on my way to get a cup of coffee and nearly fell over in shock.  Someone I don’t even know had sent $160 to my paypal account and told me to go get a coat.  Seriously, this just about blew me away.  I felt so cared for by God.  Could I survive as is?  Yes.  But did He care about the fact that I was cold?  YES.

Being cold is one of the worst things about winter for me.  I am always colder than everyone else.  The janitor at our church once said, “If I see Michelle shivering and Mim fanning herself, I know I’ve about got it right.”  When I get cold, I get so miserable I feel like I can’t move.  Some winters I feel as though I will never actually completely thaw all the way inside.  Well, as it turns out, God is keeping me quite warm this year.  The house we moved into has a huge wood furnace in the basement that is way too big for this tiny house.  Unless it’s 10 degrees outside, it’s probably borderline too warm in here.  More days than not, I’ve opened the main door just to get some air (side benefit: the glass door lets in more light) because it is so piping hot in here.  David says this is the first winter he has not once heard, “I am never going to get completely warm until spring.”  No wonder he laughs every time I say, “It is so hot in here.”  Heat rarely bothers me; but I’ll be the first to admit, a hot house in the winter feels wierd.

 {pretend it’s dark and about twenty degrees colder with a few propane lanterns for light and you’ll get a feel for vespers}

The first time I had my new coat with it’s advanced Omni Heat and Omni Shield Technology it was 14 degrees outside.  We started the twenty minute layering process it takes to get all four of us ready to spend an hour and a half outside at vespers.  And boy did I layer.  Leggings.  Insulated snow pants.  Sweater.  Sweatshirt.  New coat.  Thin gloves.  Thick snow gloves (also with Omni Shield).  Thick socks.  Snow Boots.  Hat.  Hood.  The end.  We left for camp with coffees and hot chocolates in hand.

As always, David kept leaning over and whispering, “Are you cold?”  But instead of replying, “Yes, but I’ll be okay,” I was whispering, “No, but don’t fall off the bench.”  It was incredible.  Instead of shivering at 26 degrees, I was pretty much comfortable at 14.  So to {you know who you are}, thank you for being God’s wallet.  Every time I grab that coat, I think about how much God cares about the little things that sometimes don’t feel little at all.

• ← Boys Camp defined
• reFRESHed →