I’m looking out to a white pool deck and white-dusted lounge chairs beyond.

Snow and ice.

Again.

In Texas.

TEXAS.

We (and by we, I mean all of us, collectively, regardless of where we live, unless there are palm trees involved and then maybe you can apply this however you can, or just go play outside while you feel sorry for the rest of us) are a people tired of the winter. Tired of the Polar Vortex, and Snowmageddon. Tired of air that hurts our faces, and causes ice to form inside our lungs. Pure-D TIRED of the black, white and gray that color our days.

It’s hard to feel grateful when there is no green to be found in the garden or landscape, and everything looks stark and dead. It’s easy to let those adjectives work their way into our hearts and minds, making them feel that way, too. Giving into the glum, we are desperate for signs of spring, any tiny hint that color and warmth are on their way.

With these thoughts rumbling in my mind yesterday, I read this…

While we’re waiting for God to open a door, let’s praise Him in the hallway.

And then I realized, we’re in the hallway, folks. It may be a cold and drafty hallway, but there’s a door that’s going to open sooner or later, and that’s reason in and of itself to be thankful. The winters of our lives always – ALWAYS – give way to spring. There is always hope for the brilliant Son to shine out new hope and new life, and if we are praising Him in the hallway, we have our eyes trained and ready to spot the first sign of it, as its rays shoot out the sides of the opening door.

As I typed that last sentence, a cardinal landed on the lounge chair. Resplendent in his bright red attire against the white, his color is balm for my soul, a promise of what’s to come, as I wait here, thankful, in the hall.

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Romans 12:12 ESV

“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 ESV

“But if we must keep trusting God for something that hasn’t happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently.” Romans 8:25 TLB

“For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant.” Job 14:7-9 ESV