Not too many people look forward to the coming of winter.  The sunrise of such a season gradually brings more darkness to our days.  For the amount of time we can spend basking in the sunlight is abbreviated by the cruel hands of Mother Nature.  And as the winds of November sweep through our lives, we are forced to stare up at a black canvas that covers our world more and more each day.  Gone are the days when an endless ceiling of blue looked down upon us.  A simple glance illustrates a world that has become darker place.  And that darkness now comes far more frequently.

During the advent of winter, Mother Nature cracks her knuckles and slowly releases another sinister concoction down upon us.  Her fingers flick brisk air through the atmosphere sending numbing sensations up and down our bodies.  To protect ourselves from these frigid breaths of air, we are forced to repudiate or natural state and layer our bodies with protective coverings.  Beautiful compositions of the human form are hidden by cotton, wool and whatever other trendy fabric has frozen more than a few bank accounts.  But without much sunlight, there is not much to see.  In fact, it is difficult distinguish much of anything.  For the arrival of winter has introduced us to a cold, dark time that has only just begun.

Yet through these cold, dark times there is something within us all that can diminish the effects of such a bleak season.  Hidden by the darkness and buried underneath many layers of clothing, a warm bright sensation clings to life.  Some us feel that sensation more than others.  But regardless of how powerful that sensation may be, it lives and breathes inside each one of us.  That sensation living within all of us is more commonly known as hope.

Even though the cold, dark days of winter may seem endless at times, the reality is that a brighter, warmer tomorrow will eventually come to pass.  But that tomorrow will seem like an eternity without hope.  Without hope, each wintry day will seem that much colder and every dark night will seem that much longer.  However, visions of a brighter warmer time will carry us through the bleakest seasons of our lives.  For on the coldest of days, it is hope that will warm our hearts. And on the darkest of nights, it is that same hope that will illuminate our worlds.