The lemons in our yard here in California are doing well and won’t be long until we will be picking, freezing and making lemonade. Its funny I picked one up that had fallen to the ground and for a moment there was this beautiful lemon fragrance. I then said, “Smells like winter.”

Now I grew up in southeast Kansas and winter never smelled like lemons. Sometimes you caught a whiff of wood smoke but that in no way has a perfume quality. Nope winter was a time of heavy coats, boots, sleet, snow and chills.

I guess what I’m trying to say is its all a matter of perspective. Today you may be struggling to get by thinking winter will never cease. Tomorrow will be a time of freshness and joy. But, no matter the situation we are called to move forward to enjoy today. Teresa of Avila, a sixteenth-century Spanish mystic said, “Let nothing disturb you, nothing dismay you. All things are passing, God never changes. Patient endurance attains all things. God alone suffices.”

Take a moment on the path today to pause. Give thanks for those around you, acknowledge God’s gift of life. In fact, stop and smell the lemons, or rejoice in the snow. Today because of God you really can change your view.

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