Winter Spiritual Season

 Winter is a time of slowing down and rest for many plants and animals. The days continue to get shorter and colder.  Seeds in the ground lay dormant. Due to colder temperatures and less sunlight, the metabolism of many plants slow down, and thus photosynthesis also slows down or ceases altogether and new growth stops.

Life of course doesn’t stop, and in fact below the surface, many things are happening. In colder climates, it is only after being exposed to cold temperatures for a long enough time that certain seeds are eventually able to break open. Whether in colder or warmer climates, it is the water soaking into the ground during this time from the rains and the snow that eventually allow the seeds to germinate once the seeds break open.

Then, there is the human activity that occurs in. Winter is often a time when people begin to prune plants, and this pruning leads to greater growth in the Spring. So even though Winter is a more still, restful season of year, we might call it a time of “active rest”.

The Winter Season in Our Spiritual Lives

Similarly, the Winter spiritual season is a time of active rest or Sabbath in our lives.  From all outward appearances, nothing much seems to be happening with us when we are in this spiritual season.  While we may have been very active in ministries and in serving others in a previous season, in this season, we might find ourselves slowing down or withdrawing completely from active ministry.  Similarly, we might pull back some in our work life or relationships.  Since the pinnacle of the Christian life in many Christian circles is seen as active service in and for the church, our withdrawal from the ministry scene or other activities may raise eyebrows among some people.  It is important to note, however, that there is nothing wrong with us in this season.

Sometimes God draws us into seasons of “being” rather than doing.  He invites us to cease our striving and to simply rest in Him.  Generally, the Winter season is a time of trusting in the Lord and prayerfully waiting.  It can also be a time of illumination – a time where we come to understand God or ourselves more fully.

On occasion, the Winter Season overlaps with the Autumn Season and there is a bit of pruning that God does within us, which can feel a bit uncomfortable.  Like the dormant Winter seed that is exposed to the harsh cold and then breaks open with sprouts of new life, sometimes we need to let God gently crack us open in order to strip away those things that are impeding our growth and to prepare us for a time of renewal and growth in the future.  Sometimes, we need God to do a work of emotional or spiritual healing within us.

In the Winter season, we might not be sure what the next season of our life will bring us and we may have no “mountain-top experiences” of God or any clear sense of call.  In fact, sometimes, God can “feel” a bit distant in this season.  He, however, is present but perhaps not in the sweet, tangible ways we have experienced Him in the past.  No matter, we wait and we trust as we spend time communing with God through prayer, reading of Scripture, and other spiritual disciplines.  All the while, God is doing work inside us, which is invisible to the outside world and perhaps even unknown to us, as well – work that will blossom and bear all kinds of fruit when we eventually move into a Spring spiritual season.