Living life in seasonsAndy Freeman - 9 Jan 2015

I wonder how you get on with changes in seasons?  

Here in Europe we’re getting deep into winter.  For some of you reading this, winter has been around a while already, with some force.  Others of you reading in the Southern Hemisphere are getting shorts on to enjoy summer? That’s the amazing way our world works. 

I’m one of those people who always likes the summer. I find my mood gets a little warmer as the sun emerges in springtime.  I find in winter everything seems to get cold and I get a bit grumpier as a result.  Anyone else the same?  It seems everything gets a little harder in winter.  

One of my discoveries when beginning to understand the early monastic movements was to try and grasp the idea of seasons.  If you imagine a world without electricity where farming was of vital importance and where heat was generated in different ways to today – in that world the seasons defined so much.

When the sun came up you got up, when it got dark you slept.   In spring life takes shape and you’re tending and nurturing that life.  In summer you’re enjoying the growth of crops and plants.  In autumn you’re reaping your harvest and you’re preparing for bedding in and for the approach of winter.  In winter everything’s about retreat, rest and preparing for spring.   Many of the spiritual practices and rhythms of these monasteries reflected these natural seasons.

In our technological and powered life in the 21st Century we’ve learnt to almost ignore the seasons.  We can have light when it’s dark.  When crops don’t grow in our climate we can buy them elsewhere.  Its maybe not a coincidence then that we find living spiritual and life rhythms quite hard. Everything is always moving forward.  No-one stops.  Now so much is 24-7 and going night and day.

The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote:

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Ecc 3:1)

What would happen if we tried to embrace a few of these rhythms in our lives?

                                       
Here are three tips of how I try to approach the seasons and how they also help me to get over my winter grumpiness... 

1. Use each season as a picture of how to pray.
   
   I like the images and ideas seasons bring up.  In Spring I pray for new life, new growth. In Summer I like to focus my prayers on beauty and on light – that God would shine. In Autumn I pray about changes. In Winter I pray for rest and peace in the world and I like to think about the underground life – the things like plants and animals retreating underground but very much alive.
    
2. Try to live seasonally.
   
   Is there a season in the year where you try to rest more?  Maybe that’s summer.  Can spring be a time of planting for you? Autumn a place for change?  Write prayers and challenge yourself to take on activities that fit the seasons.
    
3. Try to respect the seasons of your nation and land.  
   
   Practically, this last year I’ve tried as much as possible to eat food that is in season where I am.  It’s been hard and I’ve tried to learn a lot - I find this helps if you plant or grow things yourself.  Even with a window box or a small planter, why not try planting some things and seeing them grow.  
   
   What might God say to you?
    

All images are used by permission in accordance with commons copyright license terms: Feature image is a derivative of the images 'Four Seasons - Longbridge Road' by joiseyshowaa, 'glow' by Sergey Ponomarev and 'Season' by decipherment