Winter Solstice ~ Loving the Cold Shoulder


A few months ago I went back to Colorado to visit my family for the Christmas holidays. Winter in Colorado is magical. The landscape changes her garb daily. Some mornings clad the hills with sparkling frost. Other mornings, a fluffy white cloak. Still some days there are streaks of burgundy, gold and white where the snows have melted away to reveal sleeping fields. 
The early Christians celebrated the birth of Jesus in a time that coincided with the winter solstice—the darkest time of the year. Perhaps they had John 1v5 in their minds, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” It is in the darkest moment of many stories that the turnaround, the moment of hope, presents itself. Our seasons are no different.
As I went for walks around the pine forests near my family home, I reflected on how long the winter is. Even though the winter solstice is on December 21, the coldest month (February) comes after. Even as the days are getting lighter and lighter, the true seasonal turnaround doesn’t happen for quite some time.
This reminds me of so many young people I’ve encountered around the world. Many of them I hear from rarely, but their pictures are on my refrigerator and their names are forever in my heart. The trend I observe in the spiritual realm often mirrors the seasons. A cold heart takes a long time to thaw, and the love is the only force powerful enough. We must be patient as we seek the lost. When it seems that no external change has happened in our loved ones, we must faithfully love them all the more. Jesus’ love is typified by a love that covers the unlovable. His heart seeks out the loveless. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” He knows how to love the cold shoulder. Even as He hung on a cross, He said of his executioners, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.”

The Bible is replete with exhortations to keep on loving the lost:
1 Corinthians 13v4 says, “Love is patient.”
Proverbs 10v12 says, “Love covers all offenses.”
1 Peter 4v8 says, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”

It should also be noted that we are not called to love in a way that puts us in danger.  Abusive relationships should not be tolerated. Loving at all times does not equate to loving recklessly. Sometimes we must love from afar; the Lord teaches us how to navigate the waters of the heart.

What does it mean to keep loving earnestly? What does it mean to love patiently? I often come back to the scene in Matthew 27, in the moments after Jesus gives up His spirit on the cross. The earth shook, the rocks split, and tombs were opened. Yet it wasn’t until after Jesus rose from the dead that the “bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised” and came up out of those open tombs (verse 52). In the same way, a person’s spirit may lay dead and dormant inside of a person. Though they are dead in their trespasses, the power of the spirit may yet shake them to the core and open sealed places. In His own good time, He will finish every good work He begins. It may take years, but we who wait for our friends to come alive will be all the more blessed when it happens.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.




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