“Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them mark off the seasons, days, and years. ….God set these lights in the sky to light the earth….And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day.” -Genesis 1:14,17,19
And there was evening and there was morning. A refirain from the poem of Genesis chapter one in the Bible.
I love the seasons. Their variety and vast differences. Their extremes and tendency to do everything without abandon. However, winter just is not my season. It’s not only its droning length and ridiculous temperature that gets to me, but its my inability to warm myself, the excess layers of clothing, the extra time getting ready for a day takes, the lack of color outdoors and… well the list could go on, but I am not writing for complaints sake. I am writing because morning always follows after evening, spring always comes after winter. The earth moves and breathes with the interval of seasons, and each season has a particular purpose.
With winter being the present season, I am tempted to complain and point out it’s severity and seeming futility. But, I was recently stopped by the repetitive phrase from God, “and it was evening, and it was morning…” God made evening and God made morning. God made the winter and the spring. Therefore, the evening and winter of life are as vital a reality as the springs, summers, mornings, and days. God commands us to rest as he did on the seventh day of creation. Not because he had to (He is God mind you), but because life relies on its pauses. Just as the athlete needs to res after exercise so the body can heal back even stronger and the work week is followed by the weekend to rejuvinate and build-back creative energy, we need pauses in our lives. The pause is when we can sit back, take in all we’ve done in the day, our week or even our lives thus far; it’s when we reconnect with those who matter most; it’s when we remember who we already are; It’s when we breathe.
The pause, the Sundays of life, are to remind us to be. To stop the whirlwind of life we’re swooped up in for a moment and take a deep re-centering breath. For in those moments, there’s nothing that needs to be done, no where that we must go this instant, nothing more important than being here now.
I’m beginning to reframe my Winters, the physical and psychological ones of my life. From empty wholes of waiting for change and growth, they are full of purpose and opportunity, simply different ones than the Summer and Spring demand. For “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” (Ecc. 3:1-3). This season of winter for me has been a time to let myself be, to let myself relax, refresh, read a book, sip tea, listen to podcasts while I paint fruit and flowers, take baths and do more yoga. I do miss walks outside, tending a garden that will feed me, and feeling the warmth of sun’s rays soak into my skin. But, there will once again be a time for that. As for now? This is what I am given, and it is up to me to make the most of it. For in those beautiful long days of summer I may not have an expanse of time to paint, pray, and reflect on the past year. I will not despise the winter, but I will seek its opportunity in the quietness it provides me. I will rest, not miss the moment in anxious anticipation for days I can run outside, but rest in knowing this moment is short-lived. Morning will come, spring will dawn, and life will change anew. Life evolves, life progresses, and life cycles. It is ever-changing, and all we have is each moment. And we can be present in each moment if we set our whole heart-mind-spirit to be so.
Where are you right now?
Be there.
