Hope

It is Ash Wednesday and I’m sitting on the floor in Walmart.  To be precise, I’m sitting on the floor in the fabric aisle in Walmart.  People are looking at me funny.  I’m waiting for a prescription to be filled but because it needs to be transferred from CVS.   I would love to say that this is the weirdest thing I have ever done in Walmart, but it probably isn’t.  Too many nights off from work at camp were spent in the toy aisle at Walmart for that to be true of me.  I’ve looked at storage containers and at some sowing patterns and now I’m just enjoying being surrounded by the artificially bright colors of the fabric.  Sitting here reminds me of going to Joann Fabrics with my grandma, and therefore makes me nostalgic.  This is the first year that I am not planning to do a sewing project with my Grandma.  Sitting in the brightly colored fabric aisle also makes me think of the contrasting dull colors that surround me when I have gone outside for the past couple of months. 

I don’t really like winter.  No matter how many layers I put on, the wind and cold always finds its way to my skin, seeping into my body and pulling the heat from me.  It is exhausting and miserable for me.  It is true that the first couple days of the first snowfall remind me of my salvation.  They remind me of Jesus’ blood washing me as clean as snow. (Isaiah 1:18) Yes, there is something magical about the first snow and the blinding whiteness that envelops everything.  But soon, the snow becomes dirty and slushy.  The dead plants and gray streets with everything else that surrounds me are full of bleak colors.  Their blandness becomes depressing and makes it cumbersome to go outside. 

But you know what the greatest part about winter is?  It ends.  Every single year, around late March, it starts to get warm again.  It gets warm and the sun comes out.  The sun allows the plants to begin their growth again, and with their growth, we experience colors.  Flowers blossom, grass turns green, leaves come out on the trees, and before you realize what is happening, it is spring.

Jesus promised us that He is coming back after washing our sins away and allowing us to become whiter than snow.  He didn’t tell us when, but He is coming back.  And I look forward to the Son and the spring.

Also, in retrospect, there are benches at the pharmacy area in Walmart. :P

Living in Reckless Abandonment for Jesucristo,

Jo