Unshackled Moments ~ February 3 ~ Counterfeit Spring

Yesterday I began new employment. I don't say it that way to sound pretentious but because I can't call it a job. In fact, I feel a little guilty being paid to do something that A) doesn't feel like work and B) I would gladly do for free had I the time and didn't so desperately need the money. Basically I'm getting paid to hang out with a good friend of mine who has some health issues that require him to need someone around. It's sort of like spending time walking, talking and hanging out with your friend and calling it home health care.

Anyway, the day was so warm and beautiful that we went for a walk. It was amazing the way the world felt and looked. It also was Groundhog Day. The warm weather and the rodent inspired conversation between my friend and I. I enjoy talking to him, because he really makes me think. We talked about the weather as we walked down the road and saw a tree beautifully bloomed out. The truth is that no matter what it felt like yesterday, or most of this winter for that matter, it is indeed winter in Texas. It will be until March 20, and that is seven weeks from yesterday. There were six more weeks, and a little more, of winter left regardless of the temperature and no matter what that little rodent did or didn't see. If we were to box up all of our warm clothing because it feels like Spring is here there's a very good chance we would regret it down the road. We said a prayer that a late freeze didn't destroy those pretty flowers that were fooled into painting the scene too early by the warm weather. And then, as if to underscore the point, the temperatures dropped last night.

At this time yesterday it was bare feet and shorts weather. Today it is in the upper 30's, and I am wearing boots and long sleeves. Now it's not cold compared to my sister-in-law's area in Syracuse I'm sure. Yankees laugh at what us Southern folks start calling cold for a reason, but it surely doesn't feel like Spring this morning. It may by noon, but for now we have a little reminder that feeling doesn't change the season. Time does.

Sometimes what was feel and what we can determine with our senses is a poor way indeed to forecast the present or the future. We somehow come up with superstitious ideas like the Groundhog that also don't really mean what we attribute to it. It feels like things are good, or it feels like they are bad, so they must be. We wake up feeling a certain way and declare that it's going to be a bad day. Our spiritual groundhog saw its shadow and there's six more hours of pain, misery and funkiness. Or we can do the same thing with a positive bent. Superstitions and our feelings may tell us things, they may even be right from time to time. What we can determine with our senses may be accurate. But it may not be. If we want to know the facts, we look at the words printed on the calendar. No matter what it feels like, winter is officially over March 20, 2016. If we want to know the truth spiritually we look at the Word. No matter what we feel, what our senses or our superstitions tell us, what is real is what God has declared. And when He says it's winter, we mustn't get fooled by false spring, and when He declares the new life of Spring, we must not give up in discouragement when the morning feels cold.  

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