十二月一日
夏天和冬天是你所定的。（诗74：17）
我的心哪！要在腊月里与你的神同在。冰冷的雪、尖锐的风都叫你知道神遵守他与冬夏昼夜所立的约；这叫你确实知道他也必遵守他在基督耶稣里与你所立的荣耀的约。这个罪污世界的季候，尚因他信守自己的话而按时更换，那末对于他自己的爱子还会不信实吗？
心灵中的冬天无论如何总不是一个安舒的季候，若你的心灵已经到了冬季，那才是一件痛苦的事呢！但你也可以得些安慰，因爲那是神所定的。他用劲风摧折了含苞待放的花朵；他使寒霜遮没了我们欢乐的草场；他降冰雪冻结了我们快乐的溪流。这都是他所作的，他是冬天的君王，掌管着冰天雪地的世界，因此你不当发怨言。损失、十架、重负、病痛、贫穷，以及无数的灾害，都是神所差来的，都是出于他聪明的设计。霜雪冻毙了害虫，灭绝了病菌；它们也能使土壤变松变肥。这都是苦难冬天之后所得的好处！
我们现在是多麽喜欢火呀!熊熊的热火是多麽令人快意呀!我们也当这样喜欢主。苦难之时他是温暖和安慰的、常流不息的泉源。我们要亲近他，因信在他里面得到快乐和平安。愿我们裹在他应许的棉衣之中，按著季候作我们所当作的工作，因爲懒惰人在寒冬不及时耕耘，到了夏天必然行乞，因爲他一无所有。
December 1
“Thou hast made summer and winter.”—Psalm 74:17
My soul begin this
wintry month with thy God. The cold snows and the piercing winds all remind
thee that He keeps His covenant with day and night, and tend to assure thee
that He will also keep that glorious covenant which He has made with thee in
the person of Christ Jesus. He who is true to His Word in the revolutions of
the seasons of this poor sin-polluted world, will not prove unfaithful in His
dealings with His own well-beloved Son.
Winter in the soul is
by no means a comfortable season, and if it be upon thee just now it will be
very painful to thee: but there is this comfort, namely, that the Lord makes
it. He sends the sharp blasts of adversity to nip the buds of expectation: He
scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes over the once verdant meadows of our joy:
He casteth forth His ice like morsels freezing the streams of our delight. He
does it all, He is the great Winter King, and rules in the realms of frost, and
therefore thou canst not murmur. Losses, crosses, heaviness, sickness, poverty,
and a thousand other ills, are of the Lord’s sending, and come to us with wise
design. Frosts kill noxious insects, and put a bound to raging diseases; they
break up the clods, and sweeten the soul. O that such good results would always
follow our winters of affliction!
How we prize the fire
just now! how pleasant is its cheerful glow! Let us in the same manner prize
our Lord, who is the constant source of warmth and comfort in every time of
trouble. Let us draw nigh to Him, and in Him find joy and peace in believing.
Let us wrap ourselves in the warm garments of His promises, and go forth to
labours which befit the season, for it were ill to be as the sluggard who will
not plough by reason of the cold; for he shall beg in summer and have nothing.
