Come In From The Cold

“I can’t believe it! I just can’t believe it! I wish we lived in New York. It snows there all the time.”  My son could hardly contain his excitement over the large feathery flakes floating all around our car.  Such a sight is rarely seen this far south, so at the first glimpse of the white gold, we celebrate.  I have to admit, I was a little giddy myself.  “Do you think we have time to eat before it gets bad or should we just drive through somewhere?” I questioned my husband.  “We have time,” he smiled over my obvious over inflation of the wintry weather.

We settled for fast food and ate quickly, not so much as to avoid poor road conditions as to get outside to play.  We all walked in the door shedding church clothes, running to our rooms for play wear.  The first step outside chilled the nose and warmed the heart.  Snow continually fell – big flakes, little flakes, fat flakes, skinny flakes.  We danced and skipped through the slush and powder.  The kids made snowballs and tossed them this way and that, while I worked to dodge them and snap pictures with my camera. 

It wasn’t long before cold wet jeans rested like ice on legs, and tennis shoes were filled with frozen peas for toes.  We peeled off the wet layers we so eagerly put on not an hour before.  The kids whimpered at the temperature and scampered inside for dry clothes. 

We sipped hot chocolate and cuddled under blankets.  But after a short time of getting warm, Colin was ready to return to the frigid wonderland.  I begged him to stay longer, but eventually let him back out into the cold.  An hour later, he returned looking like a scraggly wet puppy at the garage door.  “Can you help me get my clothes off?  I’m too cold to move,” he told me.  It’s fun to play in the snow, but true satisfaction comes from returning home again. 

The world we live in can be a cold place, as well.  People toss careless words our way, and Satan prowls around looking for whom he can devour.  Unfortunately, we can’t stay in our homes all the time.  We must go out.  But when we venture into the chilly world, we need return home again.  Home is in the arms of our Heavenly Father.  He is our source of heat. 

Are your fingers and toes numb from the environment in which you’ve been living?  Maybe it’s time to come Home again.  It’s okay to venture into the unknown; He calls us to do that.  But don’t stay there.  Be sure to make regular trips Home to restore your warmth. 

Feeling a little chilly?  Join me by The Fire, there’s plenty of room for more.