“Winter Trees”
Our house is nested between two steep hills. It’s in an old stream bed with the creek running through one side. In the summer the trees are thick with leaves, so you can’t see the sky. The fall colors were beautiful this year. Last night the wind blew hard. I could see the leaves falling like great snowflakes. This morning I went to take Honey out, our small inside dog, for her morning constitution. I set her on the ground and as I raised up, to my surprise, I could see the sky through the trees for the first time since last winter. When the beautiful fall leaves are gone we see another beauty, things we forgot we have. The big rocks, the terrain, birds and animals that were hidden from sight and so many other things that can only be seen in winter.
Winter is coming, there is nothing that can stop it or hold it back. Sometimes we don’t want it to come because we loved the spring, summer and fall so much, but it will come. Winter could be looked at as a time of study, or a time of preparation or a time of rest. Farmers have time to plan for spring planting, which is extremely important. Winter is about the future.
In the spring, summer and fall of our lives, these are sometime busy times. The trees are thick, in our building this, fixing that, vacations, school, running here and running there. We forget that there is a tomorrow, a future, a day after tomorrow. We see today and remember yesterday but not tomorrow. In the winter a farmers fields may have dead weeds in it, but he sees green clover or tall corn in it.
There is a reason winter is at the end of spring, summer and fall. Winter causes us to slow down. We can’t drive fast on snow. We can’t do much of anything fast. You know, air conditioners are wonderful but they need a rest sometimes or they will break down. We are more like that than we know or remember.
Winter is needed. It should maybe be called rest, that might be a better name for it. It will come, whether we like it, want it or not, or think we need it. It’s a part of God’s plan for us. The farmers’ fields need it and we do too. I hear some who say,”I’ve never had a vacation and never will”. Winter is coming. A voluntary rest is easier than a forced one. Winter is coming. We need it.
I went about five years without an eye test. My eyes hurt all the time. I couldn’t read much without my eyes burning and watering. Why this was in the middle of spring, summer and fall, I don’t have time for an eye test now. Winter was coming on fast.
Clutter in our lives is similar to the thick leaves on summer trees. It will block us from seeing past them. There are real other things behind them that we can’t see, but winter is coming. Those things are so important that God wove winter in our life experience. There are real people and real issues there, that we can’t see in our condition but, winter is coming.
Many of you have young children, and if you have them, at times there are arguments. I was having one once with one of mine. They usually come in the form of I want this and you can’t have it. Age has a big part in this, but experience to the child is not important, because they don’t have any and they don’t know what that is anyway. Well, we went at it eyeball to eyeball. After a while in much frustration and realizing I was getting nowhere fast, winter came. I was almost deaf, dumb, and blind to intervention when God spoke to me in His never wrung out or agitated small voice. I guess, the shock of my loud agitated voice and His quiet small voice shocked me and shut me up. Than He said, “As I Am higher than you, you are higher than your child. I see an overview of you, you need to see an overview of your child. You and I never argue eyeball to eyeball. Never argue eyeball to eyeball with your child, you will never win the argument that way”. Arguing produces summer leaves or can blind us to the real issues. There is a time for looking eyeball to eyeball, but it is not during an argument. What, make my answers a simple yes or a simple no? Where is that in the Bible? In the clutter of my summer, winter came.
Why is the word overview so important? Because of what it means, to see fully or to see the whole picture, to look down on, to see clearly. The scriptures say. “We see as through a glass darkly, but when the complete and perfect comes, we will see the complete and perfect”. I was seeing imperfectly, but when God spoke to me, I saw the complete and perfect. Then and only then did I have the wisdom to speak with my child.
We have a small cabin we built across the creek. I like to say we built it for family, friends and burned out preachers. It’s a winter place, a place to rest from the spring, summer and fall leaves of cluster. A place to regain our overview and clarity. To see the future clearly again. to see the things we forgot we have. We have special minister friends that work so hard all year dealing with people and their problems, that they need a rest. When they come I can see the clutter in their eyes. I always tell them, “Stay as long as it takes to get refreshed”. Sometimes when they start to leave I will look into their eyes to see if they need to stay a few more days or if they are refreshed. The lack of refreshment time never goes away It is cumulative and builds up.
The winter trees without all their fall leaves reminds me of a scripture verse that says “Today if you would hear My voice, enter my rest”. From a place of rest , we see clearly and hear God’s voice. The most exciting times in our lives is when we have God’s words for council for ourselves and for others. To see from God’s viewpoint. To see a thing the way He see’s it.
There is a special tree to me, when I see it even in summer it reminds me of winter and those special times of rest. It’s the sycamore tree. At just the right time of the day the sun will make it look like it has snow on its white bark limbs. We need to remember how important winter rest is. When we get wrung out, burned out, it is normal. It’s not our failures, we just need a rest. A rest that will cause us to see clearly now and in the future. A three day weekend will not do. We need whatever it takes to get refreshed. Winter season is long for a reason.
We, as well as our family and our church, need rest and refreshment. Burnout is real. We just need to recognize it when it’s on us. Others certainly will. Thick leaves and clutter are similar. My wife loves winter, she says” You can see so far into the woods”. By the way, I got my new eye glasses. What a difference! I can actually read road signs hundreds of yards away.
David McClary
avoicefromthemountain.com
