Choosing Acceptance

When winter came creeping back onto my doorstep last week, my heart was not prepared for it. I was enjoying the days of fifty degree weather in early January, and a part of me pretended that we could just skip the snow and cold this year and morph right into an early spring.

Being born and raised in Wisconsin, I knew this couldn’t happen, yet the prospect sounded very encouraging. When they predicted the storm, the meteorologists and reporters pounced on the story with gusto. But in the early morning it was clear that only a mist was falling out there. Forget the fact that it was freezing to glare ice on surfaces. They were wrong. The temperatures would stay warm and it wouldn’t snow.

My cat, Lucky- he knows how to nap!

Sometime mid-morning the rain began to mix with snowflakes. By late morning, there was no denying that only snow was falling. And a lot of it, too. Usually when the first big snowfall begins, in late November or early December, I am filled with excitement like a child (though I usually don’t admit this to other level-headed adults).  This time, however, I chose to turn my back to the window and took a long winter’s nap.

When I awoke, the flakes were falling fast and furious and the world was already white. There was no denying winter had arrived, and I realized I had two choices, enjoy the snowfall in all its beauty or stay in bed until spring. Accepting winter for the good it brings helped with my attitude adjustment.

Walking the snowy trail behind our home

There is a peacefulness in walking amidst the falling snow which can’t be compared with any other time out in nature. Winter brings a coziness and less-hurried pace of other seasons. I enjoy the solitude, warm fires in the fireplace and the family together under one roof sharing hot meals and time together.

We humans have the innate capacity for acceptance. Making the best of our situations and finding the good in them is essential to finding our happiness. We find God’s peace in knowing we are exactly where He wants us to be. Perhaps our circumstances are not what we hoped. We can easily feel longing for things that might have been or once were. Time is an ever-flowing river, constantly moving forward. As much as we would like to, we cannot hit pause; nor can we go back in time.

Choosing acceptance helps secure our present. When we are fully invested in the here and now, we can find joy in our current situation rather than pining for something that can never be. This takes practice, and letting go.

Rocky knows peaceful rest

Relinquishing our hopes and dreams to the One who really holds our future is a process to knowing inner peace. Trusting and relying on God frees us from worry. With His help, and with prayer, we can learn to let go of the wants and desires that nag at our heart. With acceptance, we can appreciate all that we already have been given and live our lives in gratitude instead of want. 

Audrey Assad has written a beautiful song that touches my heart. 

We cannot find true peace until we rest in God.

Restless, by Audrey Assad