Walking in the Storm

The snow is blowing hard around my home.  The wind rushes through the trees and the ground is covered in white.  The air is cold and crisp.  My jacket does not seem warm enough.  When I walk out the door, snowflakes nest on my face and in my hair.  I look like I am wearing a white, glistening hat. 
The snow is beautiful in it's own way.  I can't seem to get enough of it, (as long as I am inside looking out!).  This is wonderful fireplace weather.  We have a fireplace that heats our home throughout the days and the nights of winter.  This is a day where you put several logs on the fire and sit around drinking hot chocolate and looking at the flames. 
There are many things about the winter that I love.  Currently, it is the way the snow is blowing sideways and you can't see more than a few feet in front of you.  All the world is a mystery.  You don't know what might be waiting just around the corner.  I love the white flakes that fall from the sky and fill the world with wonder and delight.  I love the fire and the snowmen and the sledding.  I love to watch the magic that happens when children make igloos and hills and angels.  Winter can be beautiful.  It reminds me to look for the wonder in everything. 
Winter can also be harsh.  The ice is slippery, the air is cold.  Snow freezes your cheeks and hands.  It can be difficult to get where you need to go.  Sometimes, school is canceled, the roads are closed and pipes break inside or outside the houses.  Trees can topple over from the ice and wind.  Homes and cars can be damaged and broken in the storms. 
There is difficulty in winter, but there is also joy. 
Life is much like this beautiful winter that I see outside my window.  It is filled with trials and adventures.  It brings saddness and heartache, as well as joy and blessings.  Sometimes the snows of adversity is so thick that you can't even see the road in front of you.  Sometimes you slip and hurt yourself.  Sometimes you are lost and can't find your way.  But then the sun comes out, the snow glistens, the air warms and you discover beauty that you didn't even know you had in you. 
The winter will pass away, the spring will come, the time of trials will be past.  Inside each day is a blessing.  It is up to us to look through the adversity and find the joy.  We are told, "Man is that he might have joy".  I think that Heavenly Father wants us to be happy.  He wants us to know we are loved.  He wants us to find the blessings.  He wants us to know that it is well with our souls.

It Is Well With My Soul

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.