Ahhh, daylight!

Brian here again: It's approaching 10 p.m. here in England, and the sky is not yet dark. It begins to get light at about 4:30 a.m. now and doesn't get completely dark until about 10 p.m. It's a bit strange to a guy who's used to the more regular times of the subtropics, but I am really enjoying the extra daylight! It more than makes up for the darkest days of winter, in which daylight doesn't begin to show its face until just before 8 a.m. and the sky is completely dark at 4 p.m.

The winter days have their own appeal - they lead to that cozy warmth that comes from being all bundled up, and they make you want to gaze for a while at the stars before going inside to drink a nice warm tea.

But the summer days are lovely in an entirely different way: daylight replaces darkness; walking outside in the soft, pleasant, slightly cool evening air replaces the need for bundling and going inside; and light ales, elderflower cordial, chilled white wine, and all kinds of other cool drinks replace dark ales, hot chocolate, red wine, and tea.

Even the food is different: traditional British winter food is heavy, hearty, and thick with gravy. There are always lots of meats and various kinds of potatoes. It's the kind of food, Jordan says, that makes empire-building possible. One tends to enjoy such food in a dimly lit, intimate setting - perhaps a small, traditional pub - huddled around a table with one's closest mates, laughing heartily about hearty things. Winter food tends toward sleepiness and is very condusive to the proverbial long winter's nap.

But traditional British summer food is lighter, cooler, and very suitable for picnics. It would be a downright shame to eat the typical salads, slaws, relishes, and spreads huddled around anything at all - they should be eaten outside, in a garden, reclined in the grass or relaxed around a table in the open air, laughing more lightly about lighter things. Summer food tends toward activity and adventure - maybe a little relaxation after eating, but always a walk or a game afterward. The puddings tend to include fresh fruit and one or another of the finest creams in the world.

The cycle of the seasons is stunning, and there is perhaps no better place to experience it than in Sussex, England. And to think that God created the earth's annual cycle to replicate his story for the world: The earth was created beautiful, a perfect summer garden on a perfect summer day, when the days seem to last forever and life itself seems to be carefree. Then comes the fall of autumn, when green turns to brown and the appearance of life changes into the appearance of death. The animals migrate away, and at autumn's end is winter. Winter is the time of great darkness, when living things have either left or appear dead.

But nothing in all the world is more glorious and beautiful than seeing those first few buds of spring or those wildflowers that take the break in the frost as their cue to start growing. Such things literally delight one's soul - I will never look at daffodils the same way again after my first spring in England. Spring is a time of resurrection, and it leads to a full-blown, all-out renewal of summer in all its light and life.

That is why evergreens have always been so valued: they seem to cheat the winter by residing in perpetual summer, regardless of their external circumstances. In fact, that is why pines began to be used as Christmas trees.

That is why the tropics appeal to so many. Growing up in South Florida, I am very familiar with how many 'snowbirds' fly south for the winter. And now living in England, I know how many Europeans vacation to the Mediterranean coast in winter, especially Spain. We were in Spain last week, and we noticed how the cafés in our area all wrote their menus in English, French, Dutch, and German in addition to Castillan and the local Catalan. The tropics appeal because they are perpetual summer: a garden of greenery and life all year long. Those who holiday there do so to cheat winter themselves, and many desire to retire to such a place.

The most glorious thing of all is that the true paradise, of which summer is only a pale reflection, is offered to everyone in Jesus. One of these days the cycle will be broken. The pattern of world history will stop reflecting the seasons' constant cycle from garden to graveyard and back, and it will come to its conclusion. To those who reject the salvation offered to them in Jesus, the conclusion will be in the pattern of autumn, a fall that leads to perpetual winter. But for those whose faith is in Jesus alone, their pattern is one of spring - a redemption from the darkness and coldness of death that results in eternal summer.