𝑺𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔~🤍

Today is the last day of Winter.😢

I’m a little sad because I actually 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 Winter.❄️ I know, that’s probably super weird for the majority of folks. I do like Fall 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆, but Winter is my second favorite.❄️

Then Spring.🌺 Then Summer.☀️ I used to love Summer. But I guess since I’ve gotten older, I just don’t enjoy excessive sweat, (very excessive in AL🥵), stinkier clothes which means more laundry, mosquitos, flies, and heat that’s just so 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 that you walk outside and it hits you like a brick and sucks all the energy out of you.😩

I like Winter because it’s a different kind of beautiful.🤍

No, I don’t necessarily enjoy it getting dark at 5pm, but that’s really the only part about it that bugs me. Everything else I like. Sweaters and boots, hot chocolate and blankets. I like the smells and sounds of Winter.🪵

And the longer I’ve been on this journey called life, I appreciate the symbolism it has to offer. What it means in nature when the season is in full swing. And how strikingly similar it is to our own lives when we stop and think about it the significance of 𝗌𝖾𝖺𝗌𝗈𝗇𝗌 in our lives.☀️

I know we’d rather think about Summer and the adventure it brings. Lakes, pools, beaches, boats, vacations, cook-outs, Disney, staying up late. We feel very 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆, living our best lives. All of that is good and fun and meaningful.💖

But the season when everything seems dead is meaningful too.

Even in 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 God opens doors for 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 to enter.🌲

Think about the caterpillar. And the incomprehensible magic that’s occurring in the pitch black dark, the caterpillar is completely alone, but It’s Creator~is transforming it into one of the most exquisite masterpieces we get to share life with.

Butterflies.

Really, is there anything else so intricate and beautiful?

The transformation of the caterpillar into a butterfly is truly one of nature’s most fascinating processes.

Sometimes God’s greatest work occurs in the dark, not necessarily when you’re going from one adventure to the next. Being constantly on the go makes it a little more difficult to hear him in the chaos.

In Winter, we are forced to be more still. Sure, we’re still going to search for adventure at every turn, because a lot of times we are afraid to be still because we may have to actually face our thoughts head on.

If caterpillars could think, (can they?) they’d have a lot of down time to do just that.

We shouldn’t be afraid of the dark.

Anyone else been in a long season of Winter? I’ve actually been on a lonely desolate road where everything seemed dead around me for three years. No signs of life on the trees. Dark. Lonely.

And then there’s “The Dark Night of the Soul.” Has anyone experienced that yet?

“Into this dark night souls begin to enter when God draws them forth from the state of beginners – which is the state of those that meditate on the spiritual road – and begins to set them in the state of the progressives – which is that of those who are already contemplatives – to the end that, after passing through it, they may arrive at the state of the perfect, which is that of the Divine union of the soul with God.” (2)”

And the angels announced~”Into your darkness, God brings His light.”

And the moon?

It doesn’t steal the night, it only unveils the beauty of the dark.

Don’t be afraid of the dark.

Listen closely. Your spring is coming.

The season is doing it’s work to prepare for new life.

You too, will bring new life soon enough.

Darkness takes patience. Learning in those dark seasons takes time.

That’s why so many don’t like winter, not just because of the cold, but because they have to be patient as they wait for the ice to thaw and the snow to melt.

Wait patiently for that first sign of green. The sign of new life.

Sometimes we’ve been in a season of Winter for so long, we’d just as soon stay there. Winter clothing is cozier. Sometimes we’d rather stay wrapped up in a blanket.

I do know that God is in the dark with you, listening to all your hopes and dreams when no one else will.

Winter is beautiful. Embrace it. Be patient with it. God created 4 seasons, each unique with what they have to offer. Winter is the one where much work is needed to be done.

“And everything in time and under heaven

Finally falls asleep~

Wrapped in blankets white, all creation

Shivers underneath

And still I notice you

When branches crack

And in my breath on frosted glass

Even now in death, You open doors for life to enter~

You are winter🤍