Good morning…
The morning light of winter is living all over our walls. God’s presence takes on a new forms as the leaves drop, the darkness lingers, and the cold draws us inside.
Those who know me know that I work hard to follow God’s lead to the next book for the weekly studies that gather in our home. Prayerfully, diligently, semester by semester, I try to discern God’s own choice. Constantly on the lookout, I read first chapter after first chapter of a large pile of books I hope to read someday. As an undiagnosed dyslexic, it is difficult to capture and keep my attention through reading, so book after book whispers, “Not it.” Since I need a book that can hold my short attention span and feed the spiritual hunger of our small discussion groups all semester long, I figure God knows exactly what we each need. Season by season, God’s Spirit “snags me” when I somehow happen upon our next right book.
It’s a magical moment when I wholeheartedly feel, “Okay, God, I trust you. This is it!”
Laying in bed with our 12-year-old yorkie-shitzu sleeping beside me on yesterday’s cold winter morning, the Holy Spirit struck. “Ahha! This is it.” God has chosen for us our next book, Wintering by Katherine May. The entire title reads: Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times.
God’s perfect timing was not lost on me, as so many in our community are going through difficult times and I had planned to spend the morning preparing fifteen welcome bags for this week’s ISP retreat at Ignatius House Retreat Center. The retreat participants are women who are recovering from homelessness and addiction, certainly people who will be blessed as they rest in the restorative power of God.
By the final page of the first chapter, I read these words and was hooked.
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Excerpt from Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May
Plants and animals don’t fight the winter; they don’t pretend it’s not happening and attempt to carry on living the same lives that they lived in the summer. They prepare. They adapt. The perform extraordinary acts of metamorphosis to get them through. Winter is a time of withdrawing from the world, maximizing scant resources, carrying out acts of brutal efficiency and vanishing from sight; but that’s where the transformation occurs. Winter is not the death of the life cycle, but it’s crucible.
Once we stop wishing it were summer, winter can be a glorious season in which the world takes on a sparse beauty and even the pavements sparkle. It’s a time for reflecting and recuperation, for slow replenishment, for putting your house in order.
Doing those deeply unfashionable things – slowing down, letting you spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting – is a radical act now, but it is essential. This is a crossroads we all know, a moment when you need to shed a skin. If you do, you’ll expose all those painful nerve endings and feel so raw that you’ll need to take care of yourself for a while. If you don’t, then that skin will harden around you.
It’s one of the most important choices you’ll ever make. (p. 14)
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Those who know me know that, once God has chosen our next read, I close the covers and put the book down. I look forward to reading it slowly, alongside the women in our studies, chapter by chapter, week by week, as we reconvene in January.
God’s voice sets out this restorative rhythm. As long as the earth endures, nothing will put a stop to planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night (Genesis 8:22, VOICE).
Well, my friends, I guess there’s no getting away from the transformative power of winter.
…Sue…
P.S. The weekly classes that meet in our home, as well as a wide array of Women’s Ministry learning and service opportunities, will begin the new semester on Sunday, January 11th. For those interested in connecting with God and our amazing community of women, please look for the registration link in late December.
