Surviving Winter

For the past several weeks we’ve had three frogs smaller than my thumb living in our window box.  At times, they’ll latch onto the window and press their fat bellies up against the glass. They’re cute little guys.  The other day, however, I suddenly became worried about our tiny friends.  The weather is becoming cool and crisp and I’ve eagerly pulled out my scarves and sweaters to keep me warm.  But these frogs don’t have that privilege.  They obviously don’t migrate, so they’re stuck here.  What happens to them once the temperatures drop even more?  

This past week I have also been reflecting on a devotional I read by Paul Tripp titled “The Wrong Address.” In it he encourages Christians to take heart because 1) When and where we live is never a mistake 2) Our life hasn’t worked according to our plans because it’s part of a bigger plan 3) God has us just where He wants us 4) God has a wonderful purpose for bringing into our lives the things that we now face 5) God does all of this so that He’ll always be near. Click HERE to Read

So what do baby frogs and an online devotional have to do with each other?  Well, I've been struck recently by the diversity of suffering.  It seems that everyone is hurting, but no one is struggling with the same thing.  Sure, there may be general areas of overlap, but each person's trials are unique.  I thus found the frogs to be a sweet reminder that all of creation can point us to the glorious story our Father is specifically weaving in each one of us.   

For example, it's been my opinion that these frogs are at the wrong address!  As great as our window box may be, they should be some place warmer.  In fact, if I were a frog, I’d want to pay a visit to my froggy friends in Florida right about now. Minnesota is better suited for animals with furry coats and humans bundled up like little Randy from A Christmas Story, right?  So why are they here? Well, in Minnesnowta where it would seem impossible for frogs to survive the winter, God has placed these three little guys in our window box and given them an antifreeze-like blood to see them through the freeze and thaw of winter.  Antifreeze-blood?!  Just let that sink in for a moment. God placed them where He willed and will flood their system with what they need to survive come colder weather.  Amazingly, God has equipped them specifically for the harshness of Minnesota.  They are not lacking. Likewise, when we are brought to our knees through trials and hardships, it’s easy to feel like we are at the wrong address.  I confess I often ask, Why this? Why me?  Why now? Why here?  Like a tiny frog about to undergo the harshness of a dark and cold winter, the trails we face often seem impossible to bear.  Will we ever see the Spring again?  Yes, yes we will! Winter does not have the last say for these frogs for come Spring, these frogs will croak again.  Likewise, God will put His strength in our weakness so that we too will not be lacking.  As dark as the days may be, we will see the Spring because Christ endured and conquered the harshest of winters for us--sin, death, and the power of Satan.  And so though our sufferings and trials may last a lifetime, we have tasted the warmth and light of Spring in the Gospel and therefore rejoice even in the coldest months of Winter knowing that one day we will see Christ face to face.  Until then, we do not lose heart because "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you,  who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials [...]" (1 Peter 1:3-6). 

Remembering back to my freshman year biology class, we learned that various environments are suited to different species.  In our lecture on niches, we learned that a niche is both a habitat that supplies the necessary factors for the existence of a given species and also an organism's specific role in its given community.  Couldn’t it be said then that we too as Christians have a providentially assigned “niche”, a place where God has placed us and appointed us to live and thrive? But what is that place and how are we called to live? Personally, I feel entitled to a niche where I am most comfortable—I’m doing what I want, when I want, with who I want.  That’s my flesh though and it’s all about me.  But our niche really isn't about us at all--it's about Christ and what will bring Him the most glory. The place we live, the people we interact with and the trials and circumstances that come our way are the niche given to use by our wise, loving, and sovereign Father who ordains all things for our good and His glory. In fact, I think it is precisely because God is wise and loving that He takes us where we would never go on our own to give us what we could never gain on our own--greater intimacy with Him. 

The following is one of my favorite quotes by C.S. Lewis. He writes, “In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets...”  If a friend has facets, surely the great God of the universe has infinite facets!  And maybe that's why God places us at different addresses, for in our providentially assigned niche, we come to see some facet of God's character more clearly.  As a diverse group of believers striving to know our Father more deeply and love Him more sweetly, we should aim to glorify God by sharing in community the love and care and mercy He has shown us, thereby inviting others to taste the joy we have experienced firsthand.  

And so, I was encouraged by our little window box friends because I was reminded that just as our Father sustains His creatures in every terrain (yes, even Minnesota!), so too He sustains His children spiritually wherever He has placed them and called them to live.  He doesn't waste pain and He doesn't send us trials to strip us of our joy.  Rather, He uses suffering as a means of our sanctification by drawing us together as a community and giving us a deeper, truer, lasting joy--Himself.  May we cling to Christ and grow in our ability to say "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.  We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So death is at work in us, but life in you" (2 Corinthians 4:7-12). 

My thoughts were a bit all over the place, so if you read this far, thanks for bearing with me!