Go North and Find Joy.

Luke 11:9 - And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Its cold today…. Finally! I love the cold it always feels fresher and clearer in the city. Some of my favorite birds start coming down when it’s cold. Juncos, Lapland Longspurs, Snow Buntings, Saw-Whet Owls, Snowy Owls, and many other Owls are a possibility. The migration of arctic birds, like an occasional Gyrfalcon make me all warm inside.

Last winter brought with it an abundance of Great Gray and Hawk Owls that was unprecedented in Migratory history. The rodent population plummeted up north and they came rushing down. My friends and I went to Sault Ste Marie in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to see a few and we had a blast doing it. I am hoping they have a few more voles this year but I also hope a few Owls and Gyrfalcons still come down for my enjoyment. Sometimes you have to go where it’s cold to find what you are looking for. Your toes may be frozen and your face chapped but if its what you’re looking for, hey that’s worth it.

In my relationship with Christ it can get cold sometimes and the landscape seems bare. In those hardest of times when I can’t feel my soul and my heart seems numb I sit waiting for God. I hear myself saying lets move a little north….WHAT! It’s even more barren and cold there. Yah, but it’s someone else’s environment, its not your own. Their land is colder, more barren than your own. So move on over and see what you can see. Then it hits you, you see it, a smile. In the coldest, barren, darkest place there is life. An amazing thing you have never seen before. A person cast aside, sitting in a worst place than you. Smiling just because you moved over to them and forgot about your frozen toes for a minute.
The Great Gray Owl brought a smile to my face that day up in Michigan. I had a smile brought to my face in the wilderness of my own soul too. By seeing something awesome and beautiful a little north of where I was, enjoying the snow with the least of these.
Matthew 23:12 - whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Matthew 11:29 - Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.