If you looked across the country side in December, you would have seen a bright and peaceful picture of white snow with the skeletons of trees reaching toward heaven.

To some, this is a peaceful and beautiful time of year. However, for others, it is just a cold, depressing time.

On an ABC television news program (20/20). there was a story about winter depression. They found that with shorter daylight hours, the human mind starts slowing down the body’s metabolic rate to accommodate the longer night. It’s amazing how God equips the human body to adapt to the season’s different daylight hours by building an automatic slowing down process. So if you call me at 7:30A.M. in the winter, and it’s still dark, don’t expect an answer; now I have a good reason to sleep until daylight. It’s all part of the body mechanism that helps one cope with shorter days.

During these longer and colder nights, God created a system for the plants to survive also. The trees that you see, look quite dead in the winter, and technically, they are, in the above ground part of the tree. In the winter, there is no water flowing up the trunk being fed to the branches and finally to the leaves. Once in the leaves some of the water is evaporated into the atmosphere and some is transformed to starch, where then it runs down the trunk to the root systems to be stored for the winter survival.

God has made the buds on a tree as an insulated and protecting shell for the dormant baby leaves and flowers inside. They are waiting for the required hours of freezing temperatures, that their species needs, before the longer days and warmer temperatures start to activate their emerging process. This is a clever way God protects cold-sensitive plants from budding in the middle of a January thaw. The more sensitive the plant is to cold, the more hours of freezing are required. The evergreen family (Pines, Spruces and Arborviteas) have very little leaf surface area and they are covered with a cuticle-type membrane to prevent moisture loss. Because moisture loss is so limited and the needles or scales area is so protected, they can survive the cold weather without going completely dormant, which also makes them very tolerant to the dry conditions in the summer months.

Under the sparkling, soft, cold blanket of snow, is the earth, and under the soil is the root systems of these dormant trees and shrubs, which are filled with food for the spring season to bring the upper plant back to life.

The root system has a two (2)-part function, besides anchoring the plant. The fat corky roots are a storehouse to store the starch that the tree reserves for the spring. The small fiberous roots and the microscopic roots are responsible for the water and nutrient absorption for feeding the rest of the plant.

In the winter. the feeder roots are constantly pushing and growing through the soil using some of the food stored to feed the active cells. When spring comes and the plant puts out 8″–12″ of new growth, the roots are ready to supply the extra water and nutrients needed to support the new growth.

The really amazing thing of this is that there is no brain of any kind to tell these plants when or how to prepare themselves for the colder season ahead. Without the snow, the cold temperatures can freeze the soil and make things very uncomfortable for the roots . Even though one may dislike the snow, the plants love it.

It is awesome to think of how God created the earth. A slight tipping of the earth away from the sun creates a complex chain of reactions. The earth tips, the days become shorter, the weather gets colder, the leaves turn bright colors, and eventually, they fall. The snow comes and the earth takes on the appearance of being in a deep sleep. But under it all, is a creation preparing for the reverse reaction when God tips the earth back and the days get longer, the weather warmer, and the plants burst with joyous color in their flowers and leaves, rejoicing with new life for the season ahead. It’s a wonderful world God has created; it’s beautiful and purposeful. It’s purpose: to glorify God, its Creator.

The Psalmist says it well in Psalm 66:1–5a: “Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing to the glory of His name; offer Him glory and praise! Say to God ‘How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you, they sing to your name.’ Come and see what God has done.”

Kenneth Yonker lives at 6855 Willard SE in Cutlerville and is a deacon at the Lakeside Church at Alto.