• Home
  • About This Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Subscribe
  • Comment Policy

Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
Home Quotation The Winter of our Discontent – George MacDonald Quote

The Winter of our Discontent – George MacDonald Quote

Posted on December 11, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment


George MacDonaldWhile reading George MacDonald’s Adela Cathcart, I ran across this quote and thought I’d share it:

“It is not the high summer alone that is God’s. The winter also is His. And into His winter He came to visit us. And all man’s winters are His – the winter of our poverty, the winter of our sorrow, the winter of our unhappiness – even ‘the winter of our discontent.”

That last phrase caught my ear. It sounded familiar so off to Google I ran to identify the source. I quickly learned two things from Wikipedia:

  1. The phrase “winter of our discontent” originated in Shakespeare’s Play Richard III
  2. Winter of our Discontent is the name of John Steinbeck’s last novel.

This paragraph was the beginning of a Christmas Day sermon by Mr. Armstrong, the curate. The rest of the sermon is worth reading but I won’t quote it here. As we approach the Christmas season, it is good to keep in mind that God is master of all of our circumstances. We can rejoice in Immanuel, God with us in the form of a baby that turned the world upside down.

I know that George MacDonald was an influence upon C. S. Lewis which is the primary reason I picked up the book. I’m excited to continue on, but thought I’d share this quote along the way.


Filed Under: Quotation Tagged With: Christmas, discontent, quote

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Follow Attempts at Honesty

Honesty in your Inbox

God knows what He’s about . . .

Events of recent days reminded me of this anonymous poem. I originally heard Ravi Zacharias read it in a sermon and called RZIM to get the text. When God wants to drill a man, and thrill a man, and skill a man; When God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part; When […]

Obedience

Obedience, trembling and embracing

This morning I was reading through the Sermon on the Mount and a phrase from the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) came to mind. In response to Scripture, the WCF speaks of “. . . yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life, and that […]

Missing the point

The two great commands are all about relationship, not about doing. But the grid I’ve used to evaluate my life switches this around and makes it all about doing and I lose sight of the relationship.

On those who have walked away

Honesty demands that we admit our struggles to work out our faith. Real faith is at times a gritty mess and we all face difficult times. My experience is that God remains faithful even when we are faithless, as Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 2:13. Feeling doubt and even expressing doubt does not automatically disqualify someone from being relationship with God.

Golden Calf Idol

Confessions of a man-pleaser (idol worhipper)

I could blame it on the church of my youth . . . or, I could just face the fact that I am an idolater at heart and have made an idol out of the approval of others.

Post Series

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
February 2023
SMTWTFS
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728 
« Jan    

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama

Copyright © 2023 · Focus Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in