Ideas

Reflections: Winter

Quotations on the coldest time of the year to stir heart and mind.

Brad Oliphant / EyeEm / Getty

AS LONG as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease. Genesis 8:22 (NRSV)

[GOD] gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes. He hurls down hail like crumbs— who can stand before his cold? Psalm 147:16-17 (NRSV)

IT IS a pleasure to the real lover of nature to give winter all the glory he can, for summer will make its own way and speak its own praises. Dorothy Wordsworth, Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth

LET US LEARN our obligation to thankfulness—for warm houses, clothes, and beds; for comfortable food and fuel to relieve us against the rigor of the cold! William Cooper, Concio Hyemalis: A Winter Sermon

THE COLD autumn rains, the gray austerity of winter woodscape, the pearl purity of December snowfall—all awaken a desire inside of me that, I know, God will not disappoint. Vigen Guroian, The Fragrance of God

I LIKE these cold, gray, winter days. Days like these let you savor a bad mood. Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

HAVE YOU entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail? Job 38:22 (NRSV)

IN SEEDTIME, learn; in harvest, teach; in winter, enjoy. William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

COLD AND CHILL, bless the Lord. Dew and rain, bless the Lord. Frost and chill, bless the Lord. Ice and snow, bless the Lord. Nights and days, bless the Lord. Light and darkness, bless the Lord. Canticle of the Three Youths

I AM weary of The winter way of loving things for reasons. Richard Wilbur, "Winter Spring"

SPRING, summer, and fall fill us with hope; winter alone reminds us of the human condition. Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook

IS IT too much to say, in winter, that I die? Something of me dies at least. Frederick Buechner, Godric

AND WHAT else was there to do in the winter? Stay inside and read. Or write. Stay inside and dream. Stay inside and look, safely, outside. The Muse might as well be invited—who else would venture out? Patricia Hampl, A Romantic Education

IF WINTER COMES, can spring be far behind? Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Ode to the West Wind"

THERE ARE only two seasons—winter and baseball. Bill Veeck, "Seasons"

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere:

Recent Reflections columns include:

Signs of the Church

Christmas Sermons

Autumn

CT Classics

Spiritual Classics

Proverbs

Summer

Philosophers' Potpourri

Ponder These Things

Easter

Evening Prayer

Also in this issue

The CT archives are a rich treasure of biblical wisdom and insight from our past. Some things we would say differently today, and some stances we've changed. But overall, we're amazed at how relevant so much of this content is. We trust that you'll find it a helpful resource.

Cover Story

Making Airwaves

Madison Trammel

The Wilberforce Strategy

News

Andrew Walls: Historian Ahead of His Time

Tim Stafford

The Town that Loves Refugees

Denise McGill

Belonging Before Believing

Review by Louis A. Markos

The Early Church on Jesus

Review by Gary M. Burge

Compassionate Bedfellow

Review

Film: Modernity's Art Form

Eric Miller

The Suburb of God

Review by Allan Sholes

Three Models of Hell

R. Todd Mangum

News

Nepal's New Peacemakers

Anto Akkara in Katmandu, Nepal

A Community of the Broken

Christopher L. Heuertz

Rigorous Joy

W. Jay Wood

The Problem with Mere Christianity

J. Todd Billings

Defining Business Success

News

Death-Defying Ministry

Alexa Smith

By Women, for Women

Review by La Shawn Barber

News

Shedding Light on <em>The Dark Tower</em>

Harry Lee Poe

The United Nations' Disarray

Joseph Loconte

Can We Dialogue with Islam?

J. Dudley Woodberry

Praying the Psalms

Review by Patricia Raybon

Saints Gone Wild

Review by Douglas A. Sweeney

Impressively Invisible

Dollars and Sense

Madison Trammel

Striking Out the Liberals

Madison Trammel

News

A Boom for Missions

John W. Kennedy

Editorial

The New Intolerance

A Christianity Today Editorial

News

Go Figure

News

My Ministry Space

Chansin Bird, RNS

News

News Briefs: February 01, 2007

CT staff

News

Compassionate Conservatives

Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra

News

What Iraq's Christians Need

A Christianity Today Editorial

Five Streams of the Emerging Church

Scot McKnight

News

Quotation Marks

News

Equal-Opportunity Offender

Susan Wunderink

News

Passages

Compiled by CT staff

News

Miracle Vote

Isaac Phiri

Bottom-Up Discipline

Mega-Headache

Sarah Pulliam

Exit Interviews

Asbury Flap

Frank E. Lockwood in Lexington, Kentucky

News

Riding the Pope's Coattails

Brad A. Greenberg

Modernity's Art Form

Review by Eric Miller

View issue

Our Latest

The Complicated Legacy of Jesse Jackson

Six Christian leaders reflect on the civil rights giant’s triumphs and tragedies.

News

The Churches That Fought for Due Process

An Ecuadorian immigrant with legal status fell into a detention “black hole.” Church leaders across the country tried to pull him out.

The Bulletin

AI Predictions, Climate Policy Rollback, and Obama’s Belief in Aliens

Mike Cosper, Clarissa Moll, Russell Moore

The future of artificial intelligence, Trump repeals landmark climate finding, and the existence of aliens.

Troubling Moral Issues in 1973

CT condemned the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade and questioned the seriousness of Watergate.

Ben Sasse and a Dying Breed of Politician

The former senator is battling cancer. Losing him would be one more sign that a certain kind of conservatism—and a certain kind of politics—is disappearing.

Died: Ron Kenoly, ‘Ancient of Days’ Singer and Worship Leader

Kenoly fused global sounds with contemporary worship music, inspiring decades of praise.

Review

MercyMe Holds On to a Hit in ‘I Can Only Imagine 2’

The contemporary Christian film sequel explores life after writing a megahit, asking whether hardship can bear good fruit.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastprintRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube