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It’s still green below

Linda’s Lines
Linda Wegner

It’s no secret that this winter has been brutal, even here on the West Coast. Perhaps a better way of expressing it is, especially here on the West Coast. We’ve been buried in snow, and for those of us who have still dared to go out for anything beyond necessary duties, we’ve been wrapped in layers of clothes. There’s been a run on cleats in at least one of the local stores as we’ve tried to adapt our year-round walking shoes to the icy conditions. Last week, even that didn’t help me as I found myself lying facedown on the street outside our home. Fortunately, I had only enough cuts and bruises to elicit sympathies and opportunities to tell my story but the saddest of it all, is that we’ve lost our bragging rights.

Soon after moving here from my beloved Saskatchewan, I discovered that bragging was an integral part of living in this near-tropical area of the country. Not this year. Though our “cold” may seem like nothing compared to other places of the country, for us anything below zero is near catastrophic; after all, the primroses were blooming and the snapdragons near to it when temperatures plummeted a couple of weeks ago. Oh, well, humility isn’t such a bad thing.

Over my morning tea, I looked across the street and discovered that areas of melting snow now revealed patches of green grass. “Yes!” I proclaimed to myself, “Yes, all is not lost!” Checking along the side of the house I saw that those snapdragons had popped their heads back up, “spring must be coming soon!”

My thoughts then turned to the unfailing presence of God’s love and care. No matter how many layers of pain or discouragement, He’s there.

“The eternal God is thy dwelling-place, and underneath are the everlasting arms…” Deuteronomy 33:27