Grace Unadorned

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want."      

Philippians 4:12

"The winter of our discontent" is a line from Shakespeare, but it's also a line people tend to mumble this time of year. In February, many grow discontent; people are restless with the long winter. We are tired of trees that look stark. The landscape is barren, the ground, hard like iron.

But look deeper into February. There's beauty in the barren landscape. Earth is stripped of its foliage, and we see the uncluttered foundation of ground and sky. It's as though nature wears no makeup. Earth's face is unadorned and plain, like the scrubbed face of a woman whose wrinkles add to her elegance. February is not pretty; it is handsome in an unembellished manner. For those who take time to look, they will discover a deeper beauty.

Something else is hidden from view, and there's no better time than February to uncover it. Now is the time to learn the secret of contentment Paul talks about in Philippians. To live "hungry" or "in want," as Paul puts it, is a little like looking for beauty in a stark landscape. Life, stripped of its trappings and reduced to its bare essentials, shows us how lean and in need of God we really are. Embrace spiritual poverty as you would embrace the strange beauty of February. When you do, you'll find the grace of God.

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If your life feels as cold and barren as the hard ground, take this month to learn the secret. God's grace will furrow the ground of your cold heart and turn its sod to the sunshine of hope. God's grace will warm and revive you, like the early breezes of spring reviving the earth.

Father God, I confess a restless spirit and a roving eye. Teach me to sit contentedly in the warm embrace of your grace this cold day.

Blessings,

Joni and Friends

Taken from More Precious Than Silver.  Copyright © 1998 by Joni Eareckson Tada