Winter and spring – today is all I have got

NORSK
Normally I am too busy to think about it, but occasionally I wish that I could be at ‘Brødsjø’. That was not the case yesterday. At breakfast, we listened as usual to the radio-news from the county of Telemark. As the morning temperatures were read, I noticed that close to our home it was registered -18 degrees, which normally means that the thermometer must have dropped below -20 at our place.

One hour earlier, we woke up to a beautiful and warm spring day here in Chisinau where the maximum temperature reached +17 degrees during the day. There is a big difference between winter and spring, and it is easy to understand Paul’s message to Timothy:

Do your best to get here before winter.
2 Tim 4:21a

Although it is tempting to give the word "winter" several interpretations, I think Paul's concerns were of the practical kind. If it was John who had written this, I would immediately have asked myself: "What else than practical concerns can be hidden in this message?"

Paul’s main concern was to get Timothy to come on a visit as soon as possible. May be Paul thought about his own bad experience of traveling during the winter. He had warned against sailing after the 1st of October (2), but his warning was not heeded to. It all ended up with a dramatic shipwreck. It is easier to travel in the summer, that was and is the simple truth.

However, in this simple verse I am once again reminded about how important it is to use the good days in the right way. This again reminds me of another of Paul's exhortations, which is important regardless of what kind of approach I make:

… make the best use of your time.
Col 4:5b

‘Manna’ for today:

Today is all I have got!

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(1) The thermometer at Brødsjø showing -18 during Christmas 2009. -35 is the coldest we have registered there. With such temperatures, I think I would have dropped a visit to Paul, and waited for the spring...
(2) Cf. Acts 27:9-12