As soon as the first snow falls near the end of the year, I am waiting for Winter to be over. 

I trudge through the subsequent months trying to remember what it was like in the summer, complaining about the weather and the traffic and about having to take the dog out (who, for the record, also hates Winter), and the extra effort to do literally anything.

I spend 5-6 months of my year miserably waiting for it all to be over, and this year I looked back and realized that I spent all of that time grumbling and wishing the days away. 

It got me thinking about how much I do this with other parts of my life. How often am I just waiting for something to be over, or to happen, or to start? Am I looking around for what’s good now? For what God is doing now? What does God show us about Redemption through the snow? How does the cold serve a purpose for its time? (Someone please answer that last question because I genuinely do not understand.)

What might be different about my situation if I chose to rejoice in the here and now? Nothing. Nothing would be different or change about what is happening around, to, because of me. But my attitude and outlook would be different. My eyes would be open to see the good God had for me now and the reason he has me just where I am. 

I can’t go back and change where I began and my negative attitudes of the past, but I have daily chances to wake up, receive new mercies from my Creator and Savior and rejoice where I am now. I will fail, but God will not, and at the end of the day if I feel I have nothing else to rejoice about, I know I can delight in that assurance. All I can do is Wait. Trust. Hope. And so can you.