THE FIRST GREAT LESSON TO LEARN IN LIFE IS THAT WINTER WILL ALWAYS COME.

Winter, like spring, is a season which can make its brief appearance during any season, as a brief reminder of its ultimate power.
In mid-summer while we consciously tend our carefully planted crops, winter can momentarily descend upon us as if threatening to take away the fruits of our efforts.
Winter can make its appearance during the season of opportunity - the spring - and if we do not quickly respond to cancel its potentially devastating effect, the season of opportunity will be taken from us by one of the storms of life, leaving us with yet another full year of waiting.
Winter can prematurely appear during the season of harvest - the fall - just as we are about to reap the rewards of our hard work, and leave us with crops - or results - which are of little value.

THE FIRST GREAT LESSON OF LIFE TO LEARN IS THAT WINTER WILL ALWAYS COME!

Not only the winter of cold, and wind, and ice, and snow, but the human winters of despair and loneliness, or disappointment, or tragedy.
It is in the winter when we feel our prayers go unanswered or when the acts of our children leave us shaken and stunned. It is winter when the economy turns against us, or when creditors come after us.

WINTER COMES IN MANY FORMS, AND AT ANY TIME,  both to the planter of crops as well as to the person in business, or even to our personal lives.

THE ARRIVAL OF WINTER FINDS US IN ONE OF TWO CATEGORIES: EITHER WE ARE PREPARED OR WE ARE UNPREPARED.


For those of us who are prepared, who have planted abundantly in the spring, guarded our crops carefully during the summer, and harvested massively during the fall, winter can be yet another season of opportunity.
It can be a time of reading, a time of planning, a time for gathering our strength for the coming spring, and a time for taking comfortable shelter in our warm homes.  It can be a time of great enjoyment, a time to be shared with those we love an with those with whom we have worked so hard.  It is a time of thanksgiving, a time for the sharing of life's bounteous gifts.
Winter is a time for being grateful, both for what we have, as well as for what we can yet achieve.
Winter is a time for rest, but not excessive rest.  It is a time to enjoy the fruits of our labors, but not a time for gluttony.  It is a time for warm conversations, but not a time for gossip.  it is a time of gratitude, but not a time for complacency.  it is a time to be proud, but not a time to be egotistical.

What we do with our time, with ourselves, with our friends, and with our attitudes during the season of winter determines what we will do with the coming spring.
WE ARE MEANT TO CONSTANTLY IMPROVE OUR CONDITIONS, OURSELVES, AND OUR RESULTS.  We either improve, or we regress, for never do we remain the same.


IT IS A BASIC HUMAN LAW OF LIFE THAT DEMANDS EITHER HUMAN PROGRESSION OR HUMAN REGRESSION.


For those of us who are prepared for winter's arrival, we need to use the winter as we would the spring, to take advantage.  It is a time of being in the MEANTIME.... a time of preparation.




To those who are unprepared, the arrival of winter is a time for regret and a time of sorrow.  Having lacked the willingness to pay the pain of earlier discipline, we now pay the heavier pain of regret!
Regret is an empty storehouse and an empty kitchen when coming fall is yet a full year away.
Even with the arrival of spring, our efforts will be expended with an empty stomach and an empty purse.
And so we COMPLAIN, AND COMPLAIN, and tell everyone how broke we are, how we need this and that but can't afford it.
Winter's arrival for the unprepared is full of horror and uncertainty.  Love and harmony give way to accusations, anger and blame.


Throughout all the seasons of the year, winter can touch our lives in may small ways......testing us, and providing us with subtle reminders of the plight of those whose lives are surrounded by winter.
Winter can be a lost opportunity, or the loss of love.  A winter is when a trusted friend gives you cause for disappointment, or when expected business goes to a competitor.
A frigid blast from the cold, harsh words of someone you love is winter, and so is the pessimism or cynicism from someone whose advice and counsel you seek.

The major challenge confronting those surrounded by winter is to not let it affect the arrival of spring, and our ability to recognize that arrival.
Much of life is learning to always remain part of the solution rather than allowing ourselves to become part of the problem!

If you find yourself without love, money or employment, it is a winter, and its very appearance is because you've missed a springtime somewhere.  Neglect is always costly, and winter is merely a circumstance, and effect brought on by some earlier cause.
Dwelling upon the severity of your personal winter merely makes the winter more difficult to endure.
 
THIS IS THE TIME TO SEARCH THE INNER CONFINES OF YOUR MIND AND YOUR SOUL FOR THE PURPOSE OF DISCOVERING THE REAL CAUSE WITHIN YOU.


Adversity I have found is seldom attributable to some one, or some thing outside of ourselves.
To blame outside influences for the circumstance of winter is a convenient excuse for misplacing responsibility.
It is a normal human tendency to place blame for our winter of life on someone else, which is why most of these people reap the result of mediocrity that accompanies such behavior.


WHEN WE BLAME OTHERS WE GIVE THEM THE CONTROL!


In order for things or circumstances to change, our attitudes, opinions, and habits must change.

Let winter find you planning for the arrival of spring, not contemplating the errors of commission and omission of last year!
Let winter find you with a joyful countenance and a happy heart...with a good word for all those around you, with  confidence in the future, not apprehension; with appreciation of the past, not regret and finally, with gratitude for your achievements, adversities, and uncertainties of life, for each is a form of blessing which removes all limitations from the future possibilities of life.

Winter is a time for examining, pondering, and introspection.  it is a time for re-evaluating both purpose and procedure - for rediscovering an often misplaced sense of purpose.  It is a time for finding new ways for solving old dilemmas, and for devising unique plans for contributing to others less fortunate than ourselves.  It is a time for understanding and controlling anger which often causes us to pass judgment without fair deliberation.
It is a time to analyze our fairness and to overcome our tendency to hastily spew forth condemnation with full investigations, for such is the height of arrogance!

Winter is a time for being sincere with ourselves, about ourselves, when the tendency is to fool ourselves.
It is a time for developing new skills that allow us to get along with imperfect people, for even a fool can get along with perfect people.  It is also a time for becoming wise enough to know what to say - as well as to know what to overlook and what not to say.

The wisdom that comes with the careful use of winter teaches us also that evolution is merely revolution at a slower pace, and that constant gradual change is the order of the universe. Only those human attributes of honesty, loyalty, love, and trust in God and our fellow man are meant to remain constant.
Winter is a time for being grateful for our achievements, or for having endured our lack of achievement.

The physical inactive season of WINTER is a time for adding to our storehouse of knowledge through personal development and truth.
With WINTER comes the opportunity to catch up on unkept  promises, and unanswered letters.  it is a time for encouraging our children who are inexperienced and often insecure and for encouraging the old, for because of their experience, are apprehensive of the future.
Let not winter go by without investing much of your time in assuring, teaching and encouraging others.
For in so doing, your reward will be an uplifted confidence in yourself; for the teacher is always the greatest recipient of the lessons he seeks to teach to others!
Let winter find you thinking first of someone else, and appreciating, and being kind, and being gentle..........and by all means, let winter find you laughing more, even though the winds blow cold, and the snows cover the soil which will soon bring new life.

Love Mellie xx