[Darris McNeely] Have you ever wondered what the good of all the cold, hard winter months are, December, January, February? These are daffodils. They don't look like daffodils right now. They're bulbs, but you can see that in time, as it comes up out of this dirt, these will be daffodils. My wife dug those out of our front yard just a few days ago. We had a tree cut down. And before the man came in with his grinder to grind the stump out of the yard, my wife got out and dug these up because she didn't want them destroyed by the grinder, because she wants to see these again in the spring. And so, this afternoon, we'll have to have to put these back into the ground, cover them with dirt, and then wait a few months for them to come back up. And in the spring, we'll have our beautiful yellow daffodils once again.

I was thinking about this because right now we're in the midst of winter. We've past the shortest day of the year and slowly we're gonna be getting to longer days, and eventually, springtime will come. But in the Northern Hemisphere, at least for us right now, it's the dark, short, cold days of winter. What value are they? What should we be doing? Rather than the reveling and the merrymaking of the false holidays that are somewhat prominent during this time of year, I think God had in mind for His people living in these temperate zones to use that time with shorter days, longer nights, colder weather, where we're not able to get outside and do a lot of other things, we're a bit more dormant just like these bulbs to prepare for the time and the future for the coming spring, for the days that are longer. In other words, for the time when the work can be done.

Right now is the time to be reflecting, to be thinking, to be drawing closer to God during these days. There is a reason that God causes the seasons to change as they do. And when we have these shorter, colder days, it gives us an opportunity to draw closer to God, to think through, and to pause.

Use that time wisely. Plan, nourish your life spiritually, nourish your life like these bulbs. These daffodils are nourished during the winter months in the ground in a dormancy, but still working, so that in the spring, when the sun, when the light and the light begins to come back out, then they will bloom and they will show all that they have been prepared for.

That's what we should be using these times for. That's what we should be thinking ahead for the times when we can bloom as well because we have prepared by being closer to God, by feeding ourselves on the values and the things of life that will help us during those times ahead.

That's "BT Daily." Join us next time.