Repentance

  He gives snow like wool; He scatters the hoarfrost like ashes. He casts forth His ice like crumbs; who can stand before His cold? Psalm 147:16-17

Not too long ago, my son Andy shared a link on Facebook to an essay about the cold.   Jason Peters eloquently lays out the love we northerners (those born into it) have for cooler weather and even enjoy the months of winter for it's beauty and clean look.   I can't count the times, while crossing a windswept parking lot near the midnight hour, cold wind and sometime sleet or snow stinging my face, I've thought of Psalm 147:17.  I remember the first time I had read this scripture and how it struck me that I hadn't thought of the cold as His cold.  He can make it so cold, even I, the toughened old northerner wouldn't be able to "stand" for long.  Now, instead of grumbling about the cold, I can see it as a message, a lesson.  What are those lessons?  If you've felt utterly undressed in the cold wearing your finest winter gear, you would know.  In this season of Lent, I think it's important to be thankful to God's cold that brings us to repentance.  We are "naked" before Him.  There is nothing we can hide.  It is better to feel His cold and know this.  And acknowledge our sins before Him.  And He will cloth and warm us with His Grace.

"As for me, God willing, I shall walk through the cold on such northern days as this—that I might be its earnest and deserving pupil."  Jason Peters

 Books written by Jason Peters: Wendell Berry: Life and Work (Culture of the Land)