A Wintry Hibernation: Abiding in the Lord
It’s 7 am here in Texas and I have been up since 3am. The Lord woke me up. Although I wish I could tell you that I obeyed immediately, sadly, I did not. I kept trying to go back to sleep. Surprisingly, I felt awake, not tired, but just wanting sleep. Then I heard one of our twin boys up and playing. A gentle wake from the Lord to help remind me, “daughter, I am the one calling you to come spend time with me. Will you wake up to join me?”
I headed to the living room and began to meet him in the cozy spot I have always met him in. And I am forever thankful I did. He allowed me to go back to sleep for about 45 minutes, and here I woke up again at 5:45 and began our time together again. It isn’t always like this. But when it is, it’s the best time I ever could have. A refill of the Lord. A cup that overflows… literally.
Now, I don’t know why the posts I keep writing on or sharing about keep mentioning the word “wintry.” Maybe it’s because the Lord keeps bring it up to me. It could be that there is something there He is trying to bring revelation in. And I believe He is. He showed it very early this morning. Last night before bed, I had a cup of chamomile tea with honey and began to read a bit. But then I just journaled asking questions why the Lord wants me to start off our homeschool about wintry animals and hibernation. Those words: hibernation and wintry keeps being highlighted.
So I asked the Lord last night, in my heart, “Lord, why hibernation? What does it mean spiritually? What are you trying to show and teach me?”
And with the journaled questions I wrote:
“How does hibernation relate to us spiritually?”
“Tell me more Lord.”
“Why the word hibernate?”
I tend to ask the Lord loads of questions. It could be that I always had questions, even in school. But in school I allowed my nerdy side to fade once I was made fun of.
And since the Lord wakened me up this morning, so early, what a precious gift of his answers to give to me that my heart desperately wanted to know.
Though I don’t have all the answers, I will share my journal entry of what He placed on my heart to my questions from last nights abiding.
“On this early morning, I sit here and read the I AM Study. I jot down in the study “Jesus you are my melody.” (Something my heart just bursted in as a silent hymn.) While doing so, I read Psalm 33 then Psalm 119:1-32. As I read these I recount the deeds of the Lord.
Hibernation – not every animal is isolated and hidden deep away. Not every animal is unseen. Some hibernation looks quite different. Hibernating in the Lord is actually getting cozy, comforted in Him, filled up, and the storage – being stored (stocked) up.
Here is what I am learning:
1. Romans 12:12 “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;” learning to be glad in this cold wintry season, that this season is yet another season to embrace the Lord fully and to truly set our eyes on the heavenly things of Jesus.
That winter seasons is a season to die off the old, much like the plants, the trees, the shrubs and leaves, they must fall for regrowth to happen come Spring. There is a time and a season, a purpose for everything.
2. Psalm 119:147 “I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.” Awake each morning to feast on the word. To submerge in the word. To be meditating on the word. This is part of the hibernation when we get filled up, stored up for later use. We may not need it all right this second, but more than likely it will be needed within the next few days, even hours.
3. Cozy up, we get cozy in the home with the warmth of a fireplace, hot cocoa or hot apple cider in our hands, a bowl of oatmeal or porridge to fill our tummies, yet in the spiritual meditation, our hunger is fed by the Word of the Lord. By his presence spent with Him daily. We grow to know him more and we grow to loving him more.
Spiritual hibernation has some death – putting to death all that is earthly within us to reflect, look, and walk like Christ. The earthly in us will captivate our hearts when it should be our Lord Jesus Christ captivating our hearts.
In the winter, there the death and sting lay, the hard of letting go of what we held tight to, but oh what freedom it brings.
In the wintry snow, a blanket of snow falls, covering the beautiful meadows all with pure white.
In the winter, that snow signifies purifying from the Lord.
|Isaiah 1:18b| “Though your sins are scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are Stimson red, they will be like wool.”
There in the hibernation, the sting of letting go of what was, you’ll one day embrace the beauty of what it will be — you just have to first let it go in order to embrace what is to come.
In the winter we see things pause and come at a slow pace. The beauty of the snowfall that is divinely created by our Creator — how beautiful it is to pause and see the nature pause too.
The winter — a lesson to show us all, how hibernation in the Lord, in the Word, is truly needed for the depths of our soul.
Where our mind seems far off, wanting to spin and do all the things, there the Lord stands, up on the fresh snow, waiting to renew our strength and clear the clutter and chatter in our brains. But oh how hard it is for us humans alike to pause and slow, to embrace winter just as the Lord created it to be.
Winter, a purifying, hibernating, edifying, embracing and engaging season it is to be in the Lord.
Winter, the season to pull back from the world, to let loose of the world and to grip tighter to the King Majesty!
Winter, it teaches us so many lessons, yet I wonder if any will even listen.
The soft pillow of snow and the beautiful aroma of evergreen essence flowing through — oh how the aroma of the Lord could be smelled from miles and miles, even in this wintry season.
Winter, a reflection and refining part of our life, one that is needed and not to be ignored. With so many animals and nature alike, in all who hibernate in the deep soil, so are we to hibernate in our Savior.
Hibernation, a part of a Christian life that was forgotten over time, but by the Lords grace, he is reminding of this time again.
Winter, a season of pruning and cozy, comfort and setting, may it all be done in the Lord.”
As we prepare this week in our homeschool curriculum of more hibernating animals and their anatomy, I can only imagine, and wait patiently yet expectantly, on what the Lord will reveal more of about this wintry season for his bride. What a glorious season, a cup filling that overflows, a heart rejoicing season it is.