Here in Northwestern Illinois nature has been taking a break; winter has more or less been absent for a few weeks.  Even on my recent trip our west winter seemed to be on holiday.

The weatherman says Old Man Winter will be back at work today.

Isn’t it funny how the weather is?  Isn’t it funny how life is!  There are ebbs and flows, ups and downs, and sometimes it seems that there is no order to anything… but there is order; the Bible says so!

There is a time for everything, 
   and a season for every activity under heaven:

  a time to be born and a time to die, 
   a time to plant and a time to uproot, 
  a time to kill and a time to heal, 
   a time to tear down and a time to build, 
  a time to weep and a time to laugh, 
   a time to mourn and a time to dance, 
  a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, 
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain, 
  a time to search and a time to give up, 
   a time to keep and a time to throw away, 
  a time to tear and a time to mend, 
   a time to be silent and a time to speak, 
  a time to love and a time to hate, 
   a time for war and a time for peace.

(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

I think this is a good thing to know; God is in charge of things.  Jesus Christ is right there at the helm running the entire Universe.  Even though I can’t always see what the plan is, it sure is good to know that there is one.  Best of all, we know the Ultimate Plan, and that makes any problems we might face now seem like no big deal.

I really don’t like to shovel snow, but shovel it I will because it’s the season for snow.  Thank you Lord for the break… and thank you Lord for guiding this ship we call the good old Earth!