Thankful in All Seasons

There are a lot of things that I struggle with in winter. I don't love the cold. I don't love the gray skies. Most of all, I find myself struggling with the shorter days. I really miss sunlight during winter.

For years, I've grumbled about winter. I've even joked that we all get one season to complain about, and I've chosen winter.

If I'm honest, my complaining begins in September, as the first signs of fall come, and ends in May, when I see the first glimpses of spring. But this year, I've changed. I've been challenged about my attitude. It doesn't seem right to grumble throughout a good portion of the year that God has given us. If I complain about winter, I'm really grumbling for at least three, but probably more months of the year.

This year, I've tried to change my attitude. Three things have helped.

First, we happened to visit Lake Tahoe. Tahoe is an alpine paradise. It was cold, but we loved it. I began to see how beautiful winter could be as we hiked and saw the natural beauty of the area. It gave me a reset to begin noticing things that I overlooked because of the difficulty of winter, things that are really beautiful about the season I disliked.

We ended up in Tahoe somewhat randomly, and I take this as a gift from God. He allowed me to experience something that would reset my expectations of winter.

Second, I began to read a book called How to Winter. It's written by somebody who used to hate winter but has reframed how they see it and now enjoys it. I haven't completed the book, but I've absorbed the main point: there are many things to enjoy about winter, and if we choose to focus on the negative, we'll never get to enjoy the things that are legitimately good. This book has been helpful for me. We have a choice about what we notice, and my choice to grumble is neither honoring to God nor helpful for myself.

Most importantly, I felt convicted. Scripture tells us to give thanks in all things (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Is it right for me to spend a good portion of my life complaining about something that God has given me? I began to wonder if my complaining was sinful. At the very least, my attitude of grumbling doesn't reflect a heart that’s grateful to the Lord for his many good gifts, including the gift of winter.

This year, to my surprise, I've actually begun to enjoy winter. Driving home on Saturday night, it was cold and gray and slushy. The roads were slippery. Char and I got talking about how in just a few months, it would be broad daylight at the time that we were driving in the dark. And yet, I caught myself enjoying the moment.

God has given us many good gifts, and even ones that we at first don't enjoy are still full of blessing if we choose to embrace them. And so finally, after many decades, I'm slowly learning to give thanks even in winter. It is indeed one of God's gifts.