A Seasonal Reminder

January is the time I start to slip into a seasonal slump. The dumps, a funk, whatever you call it; life seems to lose its shine in many ways, and I rapidly lose motivation, interest, and energy, and I’m very aware that this period is about to last for the next three months. I lovingly call this part of the year “purgatory.” Sarcasm aside, this can be a very dark and difficult time of the year for me, as I well know it can be for many others. This past fall, I felt Jesus was kind enough to offer me somewhat of a method of making sense of this period of the year and my seemingly uncontrollable depressive reaction to it–therefore reshaping my understanding of it: I write about this new understanding in hopes it speaks to others who also dread the coming winter doldrums.

I have always favored summer and spring over winter and fall, and loudly protested the change from the warmer half to the colder half. I saw the symbolic beauty in the changing of the seasons, but that beauty would often get dirtied unintentionally when I routinely complained of the falling leaves as the summer ended here in Pennsylvania, using humor to distract myself from the coming autumn season— and I would get so wrapped up in the holidays that January would hit me like a ton of bricks. As I continued to grow and my interests and appreciations began to evolve, I found myself much more captivated by the natural world when it once again came alive last spring; I took a new interest in the lives of birds in the yard, noticed flowers more often, paid attention to the plants growing around me and how they interacted with each other, and endless other new fascinations. Things that I previously knew to be just living things seemed to be telling me there’s more there than meets the eye; maybe I shouldn’t see plants and animals as just lovely background scenery but understand them more in line with how God understands them–He is the One who put the effort into creating them, after all.

So, through the spring and summer I delved into this newfound love, learning a great many things about the natural world God created for me to enjoy and be grown and nourished by. It changed me in many ways! And when the season of autumn—with its changes and introduction of dying greenery and the escape of animals from the cold—came knocking, I noticed something very wonderful: I’m lucky to live in an area of the world that yearly teaches so much about God’s nature and character in its seasons, and hints at an incredible range of His wisdom. I could ramble about this for hours. While many of us know Jesus had used the natural world to teach, such as the parable of the fig tree (Luke 13:6-9), it’s fascinating to me to see what the Bible says of the relationship between nature itself and God:

Psalm 98:4, 7-8: Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; … Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy (NIV).

Psalm 96:12: Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. The all the trees of the forest will sing for joy.

Psalm 148:7-14: Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations…

Isaiah 43:20: The wild animals honor Me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen.

The Bible speaks repeatedly of the creation praising the Creator. So, as I more greatly understood these truths before the arrival of autumn, I did my best to remember them–and I felt the Lord challenge me: is not ALL of His creation beautiful? Even if the Fall—sin—is responsible for all forms of death and decay, is it not beautiful that God still has given His handiwork ways of continuing, coping, living, in spite of it (animals’ hibernation, perennial plants’ life cycles, migration, just to name a few)? What if, instead of hating the ugliness and drabness that comes with the cold winter, and associating it with death and decay, I were to remember God’s incredible design and care for every inch of His creation? What if I instead remembered many of these living things are sleeping to rest for a time, rather than dead to never return? Now, though this is not a cure to the sadness that comes with less sunlight and other winter difficulties, it has certainly changed my outlook; there is a purpose and design in the progression of seasons, and if I am not praising God for the beauty in it that He’s revealed to me simply because I don’t prefer it, I am missing an opportunity to know Him more deeply. His created world does so much for us in the warmer seasons—I must thank Him for that and let His creation rest as He’s made it to rest! I can do this praising and thanking while I wait and anticipate the warmer, easier months!

My hope in sharing these musings is encouragement to others who struggle to fight off winter dumps or (self-manageable) seasonal depression. May we all find God in a new way this cold and dark season: He is the same yesterday, today, and forever–so His creation’s beauty must be the same last season, this season and the next one too!

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse (Romans 1:20).

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard (Psalm 19:1-3).