The March Into The Long Dark Winter 

November is still part of the Fall season.  

As we enter November many of the beautiful colorful leaves have now fallen and we’ve entered into a time when trees appear gray, black and bleak and are silhouetted by a gray cloudy overcast sky. Time has changed and now somewhere between 5:00 and 6:00 it’s so dark it feels like it’s 9:00 and time to go to bed.  

Our bodies have not yet adjusted and the question is, “Will we adjust through this long dark winter?” Our choices will determine whether we go through the darkness with comfort and confidence or whether we will hold on with dread and anxiety until the first sparks of spring.  

We must strengthen ourselves through the word of God so that we come through the darkness with the inner light He inspires. In this manner we do not become overwhelmed in the darkness.  

What does this process look like?  

1) Give God Your First and Your Best 

With the longer darkness, we often don’t want to get out from under the covers.  

We may choose to pick up our phone and check the news feeds from the previous night or scroll through the latest FaceBook updates. When we choose to pick something other than God first, we become susceptible to the negative narrative that can infiltrate our soul and draw us away from “the joy of the Lord” that is intended to feed us goodness and light. 

Your first and best is whatever time you first awake. If you are working different shifts or have small children in your home, that first and best may need adjusting to your home’s routines. Start with 15 to 20 minutes and over time you will find you desire more and more time with God. 

This time may be completely quiet. You may include soft worship music and a cup of coffee or tea. Always have your Bible and a journal available. Your first times may feel like you don’t have a clue what you are doing. 

You are creating a space that God gets your first and your best.  

There is no right method or activity. Be prepared to be quiet. “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Knowing God in a relationship beyond the legal do’s and don’ts is more of God’s desire for our lives this side of Heaven. 

2) Don’t Compare Yourself to Other People  

Be careful to not compare yourself with what others are doing on FaceBook or social media. We as a society have put our faces in FaceBook, rather than our face in The Book. 

So often what is posted on FaceBook is the highlight reels and the glamor shots of vacations, graduations, and special events. What we see on FaceBook isn’t the day-to-day reality of people’s lives filled with struggle and heartache. 

When we compare our lives to the outward “show” of others, we miss the blessing of what we do have. God looks at the heart, not the outward appearance (1 Samuel 16:7). Comparison to others can be a bomb to our soul. We turn our attention from a heart condition leaning toward the Lord and pleasing Him into an outward striving to “keep up with the Joneses.” 

3) Focus on What’s in Your Hand 

We each are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). The talents and our capabilities are God given.  

We are ONLY responsible for doing what God has placed in our “wheelhouse.” That can range from being a mother with a newborn, being a high school or college student, a family that has teens, to the senior citizens or elderly persons living a life with assistance. But, whatever we have in our hands that God has given us becomes our talent and reasonable sacrifice to God’s kingdom.  

We need to “do everything we do unto the Lord, not working unto man” and know that we will receive God’s blessing, “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into My rest.”  

We need to make it through this long dark winter not as complainers, not as hopeless anxiety-ridden people, but we need to victoriously face the darkness with the light of the world that lives within us, Christ the hope of glory that will dispel the darkness. Even though the outward environment may look dark, may we truly have the Light of Christ so shining within us the darkness must be dispelled.  

Before you know it here comes spring and we can shout Hallelujah, Thank You Jesus! We made it again because there are cycles as stated in Ecclesiastes that what has been will be again and there are seasons and cycles. 

Our goal is that every time we come to this long dark winter we know that spring is coming.