The dark and cold of winter -- especially a pandemic winter -- have a way of stretching on that makes it seem as if Spring is never going to arrive. At times we feel that we're trapped in Narnia under the reign of the White Witch where it's "always winter and never Christmas."
Yet Spring does come -- slowly, almost imperceptibly at first. We notice the air doesn't seem quite so chilly, or we see the first green heads of daffodils poking out through the cold ground.
Sometimes in the spiritual life we get stuck in a winter of the soul where it seems we are mired in the morass of our mistakes, like we can't get out of our own way. We need help. We need the Spring of warmth and sunshine to thaw out our frozen hearts and cold attitudes.
In the Bible, hope always gets the last word. Restoration triumphs over judgment. Forgiveness defeats bitterness. God's grace is greater than our sin. Isaiah 40 is poignant picture of the tender comfort God offers after a long, cold season of his people's rejection of him. And it is comfort that is completely unmerited and undeserved. God does not restore them because they are good, but because he is good.
As we trudge through the winter of Lent, it is helpful to remember that Spring is just around the corner, and that our job is to "prepare the way for the Lord" (Isaiah 40:3) by turning from our cold, dark ways and embracing God's light and warmth.