Wintry Days both inside and outside

     Many overseas folk only think of Australia as the "hot, brown land". And yes, large parts are just that but many folk overseas do not know we also have snow fields and plenty of snow in some parts, including here in the island state of Tasmania.
     While my friends in the Northern Hemisphere are experiencing the dreadful tornados, floods and fires of summer it is winter here in Australia. Okay, so I've shared with you that summer tree, that autumn tree, but now its bare branches just look too sad. Instead, here is part of our own front yard and part of my poor flower garden. No, we don't get snow here where we live in northern Tasmania - for which I personally am very thankful because I am not at all fond of cold days. A few days ago we had our first heavy frosts here and naturally Mary moaned.
     As fast as I could before they froze, I poked my nose and fingers outside to take this photo. If I had thought fast enough - and got out of my warm bed sooner! - I'd have stayed in bed longer and asked my husband before he drove off to take this photo and also one of the thick ice on our car that was left out overnight. The house wasn't as warm as later in the morning but I was still so glad we have heating inside no matter how freezing it is outside.
     Made me think about those inner parts of my body and spirit when the cold winters of life try to cool my fire and faith in my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
     Sure, I felt the effects of that icy air when I stepped outside right into it but once back inside with the warmth I did soon recover. How quickly do I recover inwardly when lashed by those storms of life which bring cold, cold blasts that would seek to harm, even destroy my faith in the Lord I handed control of my life to so many years ago? Where do I find the constant heating that warms and protects my faith during those "dark nights of the soul"?
     If we had decided to wait and purchase heating appliances only after freezing times arrived, how much longer I would have suffered from the cold. I know only too well that it is far wiser during the calm and pleasant days to make sure to nurture my faith. Sure, it may be through those very dark days when all we can do is cling to Christ that faith is proven to be true. Then that faith grow more and more as He gives comfort, strength for the days. But for that to happen, faith certainly needs to have a level of maturity to start with, a certainty that He is there, in control.

     How do we start with that kind of faith? The Bible is our guide, our recipe for life. It tells us "...how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?... (Romans 10:14) and "...faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)." I must read, hear, know what God says as recorded in the Bible about Himself and how HE wants me to live. The "hearing" can only come as I make myself available to Him. I must never to neglect my own private times of reading, study of and meditating on the scriptures. It’s also no good “hearing” if not obeying.
     It is also foolish to neglect sharing that “hearing” with other believers whenever and wherever possible. Together we grow stronger in faith as we share and prove God's word is true and real. Then will we be ready for those faith-testing days that would try to keep our inward being cold, even frozen. If we neglect getting to know our God and HIS ways as revealed in His Word, we make it harder for God to give the warmth of His love, strength and comfort.

     Over the years I have proved His faithfulness in the cold of winter and also the trials of summer. I hope you have and will continue to do so too..

Winter is coming – Prepare!

My husband often smiles and tells me I still have too much “Queensland blood” in me because I feel the cold so much more than he does. While the Australian mainland has suffered high temperatures the past summer months, our part of Tasmania has enjoyed beautiful summer days right up until the last couple of days.  Now the bite of winter warns me to prepare for too many cold months, at least until only a few weeks before Christmas.

Spring cleaning? It is important to air the house, sort out cupboards after the house has been shut up all that long winter here. For me however, I’m discovering I need to prepare even more for Winter. Time to check the heating system, the clothes for increasingly colder days and nights.

 

I’ve been watching “my tree” as we now call it change colour again. Each winter it warns me the nights are colder even when the sunny days lull me into putting off preparing.

Our lives are like the seasons of the year. However, these kind of seasons may not come at the usual prescribed times like those of nature.  They vary from time to time and from age to age. In spring, no matter our number of birthdays we may feel young, full of life, getting ready more and more for new and exciting experiences. Summer comes and the heat of this season may slow us down but we enjoy fun in the sun, the maturity of years with warmth and joy. Autumn finds us realising we can’t always expect sunny days and those warm nights when sometimes we might find it even too hot to sleep. Then, sometimes before we are at all ready, the cold, biting winds and frosts of winter are with us.

Are we preparing ourselves during all seasons for those harsh spiritual winters when life goes haywire, when illness and sorry lash out at us?

This summer has seen devastating bush fires even here in our beautiful island and devastating floods in several parts elsewhere in Australia. The questions are now being asked like:

“Was enough hazard reduction burning done throughout the forests here to make controlling fires possible?”

“Were the huge dams and water systems administered correctly to minimise flooding.” Were houses in bushland and flood prone areas adequately warned and prepared?”

I want to ask the question, “When life is going well, when all is pleasant, enjoyable and satisfying, are we still preparing our hearts and faith for those very tough seasons we all have to face from time to time – those wintery seasons  in our live? No matter how much we may love God, we all have these seasons to some degree.

How do we prepare? My only answer is to make sure we do not neglect the building up of our faith. In my devotional time this morning I was reminded that Jesus Christ is the Living Bread. Only He can satisfy our spiritual hunger through the Living Word.  But am I feeding my spiritual life day by day even as I nourish my physical life day by day with regular, healthy eating and exercise?

During the pleasant, easy seasons, sometimes life becomes so full of “doing” life, it is far too easy to neglect each day my spiritual food. My physical body is neglected if only occasionally I enjoy a feast instead of a sensible, daily diet. This applies the same to my spiritual health. I need to feed on the Living Bread through His Living Word. It means regular, disciplined time with my Lord in prayer, delving into the scriptures alone as well as in the fellowship of other believers so that together we can encourage each other to prepare for those harsh, winter days. To ride triumphant through those seasons, our faith needs to be strong.

Sure, in those tough times we naturally turn more and more to the Lord, and if our spiritual beings are healthy it is easier to do just. We then realise that it is during those winter seasons we discover anew His faithfulness and our faith grows even stronger.

Different Seasons And Times

Yesterday I managed to get my thoughts on “Need a Second Opinion” ready for my scheduled post for today on the International Christian Fiction Writers blog. Unfortunately on my first attempt at publishing it I had not scheduled it correctly to the agreed upon time that suits the northern hemisphere and for a brief few minutes in was on the blog site.  

My sincere apologies to Christine Lindsay for taking the place of her post for that brief time! Fortunately I’ve learnt not to trust my ability at blogging so did check and was horrified to see it already published. I did remove it as quickly as I could and now my post there is scheduled to be published instead at 2am US Pacific time which should be 9pm tonight Eastern Australian time! At least I think it is but never quite sure because of the summer daylight saving here and there and changes everywhere!

The devastating storm damage suffered by millions of Americans this week really brought home to me that as we enter our third month of spring, the northern hemisphere is in the last month of autumn and yet have already had a heavy snow storm as well as a hurricane. In Tasmania we too often get early winter conditions in the last month, May, of our autumn and I am thankful our days are now becoming warmer – even if snow was forecast this last week on the mountains in Tasmania.

 

 

Each year, this tree beside the road we often travel on to Beaconsfield a short distance from our home shows the changes of seasons.

It looked so sad when it was just bare branches until a few weeks ago so only took photos during my favourite seasons – autumn and spring. This one of pale green was taken a few days ago. Each day those  leaves will darken and in another few weeks will cover the tree in a thick canopy of green for summer over our Christmas and New Year period.

May those currently in a harsh and bare winter “season” of devastation in America soon see the brilliant colours of autumn as the “trees” prepare for the spring and promise of new beginnings.

I am just so glad that the “seasons” of my life, my “times”, are and will be forever safe in the loving hands of my Heavenly Father no matter what happens.

Oh, and the photo at the top is of a "season" we enjoyed in beautiful England back in 2005. It was a season of many rich blessings

Do  view my post on the ICFW blog later tonight by clicking HERE

SEASONS –IN A WRITER’S LIFE

For me, this tree a few kilometres from our house stands out as a never ending sentinel to the changing seasons here in our corner of beautiful Tasmania. There are a few other trees further along the road that change also with the seasons but this one just stands out to me as we drive past. Even though most days we are still enjoying warm sun, right now the leaves are showing the signs of cold nights, warning that our winter of short sunlit days and freezing winds are on well on their way.

Yesterday was our ANZAC day of remembering soldiers of Australian and New Zealand forces who lost their lives for us to be able to live in peace and freedom. So many stories told by returned soldiers over the years. We pause and remember, listen to stories on the radio. We watch T.V. news of ceremonies and dawn services all over Australia - and Gallipoli. We watch documentaries about past wars, past stories of individuals. We read stories of tragedy, of triumphs, of loss and grief.

Today I realised anew how many young men and women have gone through that terrible season of their lives in too many wars.

And what about writers? Sometimes writers do feel they are in a different kind of “war”.

Recently I have been pondering on the different “writer seasons” I have been on during the last forty-two years. Or has it been an even longer journey than that?

And what season did it all commence for me? Winter? Spring? Summer? Autumn? I have to be honest and say I personally am not quite sure. I have always enjoyed “writing” in some form or other from letters to the diaries I started when I was fourteen years old. I’ve shared many times how my husband read them and challenged me about having a talent for writing. See my website by clicking here.

But what can I call the season when I actually decided to try and write that first novel, decided to try and become “A Published Writer”? Some might say it was in the hot days of summer I started to study Fiction Writing and eventually began that first fiction manuscript. However, autumn soon followed with the desire growing cooler as I discovered it was no easy task to keep writing, keep persevering until I could write The End.

The heat of excitement and anticipation of receiving a publisher’s contract soon turned to those cold, icy days of reality – rejection letters in a winter season.

My tree loses its leaves in winter. The branches become bare. The wind lashes it but the roots are deep in the soil. Although we cannot see it, winter is the busiest time for that tree. It is being nourished deep within the earth so the green shoots can one day burst forth.

And so the seeming winter season for a writer should also be the time of digging deep, of learning, of being nourished both physically as well as in the things that build the writer’s own character. There is still so much to be aware of, to know about a writing career in readiness for the seasons still ahead:

How and where to submit that manuscript.

How to cope with rejections.

How to re-write and re-write and re-write.

For me it is still about learning more about telling a page turning story, the structure of a novel, grammar and punctuation(Ouch!) All the time learning, growing as a dedicated writer both physically and spiritually.

My tree is also the first on that road to show that faint hint of green. Spring, new life and hope, is on the way.

Spring for the writer may include those “light bulb” moments when something read or told about the craft of writing fiction becomes understandable, doable. Green leaves start to replace the seeming barrenness. Hope grows stronger as I persevere.

Then when fully developed in its summer growth, the manuscript finds an editor who likes it. It is published at last. Great rejoicing. But then the next season hovers once more. Hopefully this autumn is shorter than that first one, but there will be readers who did not like my precious baby. Reviews are not always as glowing as you would like.

At the same time the next manuscript is already being written. Perhaps as autumn begins to colour the leaves, there are problems with the plot, the characters won’t behave. Winter is closing in again but I must remember that difficult season is all part of the writer’s life, the continuing learning curve. It should still be used to bring new strength, new nourishment ready for the excitement of spring and the heat of summer.

The scriptures remind me, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV)

God knows the season I am in right now. He knows the season you are in. The most wonderful thing to be sure of is that no matter what the season my life is at any time, God is there. He never changes. His love and mercy endures for ever!

And so as autumn fades into winter, I continue to cling to Him through all the seasons for strength and wisdom.

And keep writing!