“Winter is about Innovation.” So said a slogan I saw at work recently. It sounds sloganish. The company was selling new winter sports gear, from shoes to skis to sunglasses. But it made me think. The past couple years I have been thinking a lot about winter. A few friends recently moved to places where winter is stronger than it is in Colorado. And it is hard for them to cope for long weeks of too-cold air and too-grey skies. So we’ve been brainstorming ways to embrace what winter has to offer, or at least to dress it up so that it is not quite so distractingly dreary.
Winter is for innovation. It is easy to think of the things you can’t do during winter. You can’t take long walks. You can’t grow a garden. You can’t go swimming. You can’t play soccer in the park. Amusement parks are closed. Sometimes the snow is so bad that it makes driving dangerous. You can’t leave the windows open all day. You can’t go barefoot. And during the season when we can do all those things, it makes sense to soak them up and not waste the time doing other things.
Winter is for innovation. A farmer has just brought in his harvest. He can start to evaluate whether the crops he planted are what he and his family needs. How did the planting, tending, and picking go? What could he do better next year?
A mom considers her family. They’re growing. What parts of their strengths and weaknesses were revealed in the freer times of summer: from play, from reading, from industry, from strife? How can they work on these things?
Now that the warmer months are over, it is fine to turn on ovens and to slow-cook things. How could a kitchen be more efficient? What simple tools could be added? How can the experience of cooking support the values of the cook, like friends or including children, or listening to podcasts?
Are there craft projects that you’ve been meaning to try? Research on your next car or appliance? Résumés to write? Friends to catch up with? Books to read?
I have one friend who loves New Year’s resolutions. They haven’t been my thing in the past, but I am starting to think that maybe they are an appropriate way to face the winter. Winter can be a time of reflection, recuperation, goal-making, and also, innovation.
To God be all glory.
Winter is for innovation. It is easy to think of the things you can’t do during winter. You can’t take long walks. You can’t grow a garden. You can’t go swimming. You can’t play soccer in the park. Amusement parks are closed. Sometimes the snow is so bad that it makes driving dangerous. You can’t leave the windows open all day. You can’t go barefoot. And during the season when we can do all those things, it makes sense to soak them up and not waste the time doing other things.
Winter is for innovation. A farmer has just brought in his harvest. He can start to evaluate whether the crops he planted are what he and his family needs. How did the planting, tending, and picking go? What could he do better next year?
A mom considers her family. They’re growing. What parts of their strengths and weaknesses were revealed in the freer times of summer: from play, from reading, from industry, from strife? How can they work on these things?
Now that the warmer months are over, it is fine to turn on ovens and to slow-cook things. How could a kitchen be more efficient? What simple tools could be added? How can the experience of cooking support the values of the cook, like friends or including children, or listening to podcasts?
Are there craft projects that you’ve been meaning to try? Research on your next car or appliance? Résumés to write? Friends to catch up with? Books to read?
I have one friend who loves New Year’s resolutions. They haven’t been my thing in the past, but I am starting to think that maybe they are an appropriate way to face the winter. Winter can be a time of reflection, recuperation, goal-making, and also, innovation.
To God be all glory.
I'd like to point out that it is conceivably possible to go barefoot during the winter to some extent.
ReplyDeleteUncle Spud claims to have spent an entire winter in Chicago barefoot wearing a hobbit cloak. And Chicago be cold.
More constructively, winter is a good reminder that there are seasons or rest, recuperation and preparation. That we're not created to just go at full steam non-stop all the time. It reminds us that we are dependent on God for the Sun and the Rain and the things that make crops (and people) grow.
It helps us to think forward to eternity as we enjoy the fruit of our warm season labors; reflecting that there will come a time when all earthly labor will cease but life will not.
(Not to suggest that Heaven is one, long, dreary winter with no work. I'm sure God will have plenty of work for us to do.)