Winter's Saving Grace

When winter shows its face, a death occurs, those living plants unable to draw breath, whose leaves turn brown and wither on the vine as freezing winds tear through the grassy land. The roses drop their petals one by one, the ferns dry up with shrunken, curling fronds and shriveled 'mums transform to brittle stems. If we gaze through the window now, we view a world so drab, we yearn for spring to rise above the hardened soil and pierce the earth in hues which veer from dull to rainbow bright. Yet as we sigh and sense this winter gloom descend, the wind itself damps down and sends soft flakes to cover death in shrouds of white; a mourning so bewitching, we recant all thoughts of spring, but revel in the snow and praise the One whose gift can still enchant.