Did you have trouble waking up this morning?  Wish you could sleep a bit longer?

Well, did you know that the marmot, which is just a giant ground squirrel, hibernates through the cold season underground…for up to 8 months at a time.  It can slow its breathing to a mere 2-3 breaths per minute, and its heartrate to under 5 beats per minute. 

The longest known hibernation by a mammal is that of the Australian Eastern Pygmy Possum, which once slept for 367 continuous days—the little fella missed the entire year!

And Washington Irving wrote the story of Rip Van Winkle, who after drinking a strange liquor in the mountains of colonial America, fell into a deep sleep that lasted for 20 years—he woke up declaring himself loyal to King George of England, having missed the entire American Revolution!  To be fair, he wasn’t hibernating…but that’s still a really long sleep.

When it comes to the depths of winter, maybe you’re not a Longfellow or a Bronte at all—you don’t see death or immortality in February…you just want to sleep till spring. 

Fair enough.  But Genesis 8:22 reminds us:

“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

Winter will come round again, and again, and again.  Better to be a Robert Frost than a marmot, possum or even Van Winkle.  The man with the wintry name at least knew that we have “promises to keep, and miles to go before we sleep”—even on the snowiest of evenings. 

Winter is time to get moving.  Hibernation is not an option. 

Have a wonderful day.