SHELBY TOWNSHIP – Don’t you love the first few warm days of spring after the long, cold, and dreary winter? I moved to Michigan from Florida almost 15 years ago. I lived in Florida my whole life and didn’t realize how good I had it.
There is a reason it is called the “Sunshine State.” After the first winter in Michigan, I realized how important it is to enjoy the sunny days in the wintertime, even if it is just recognizing them and soaking the sun in from the car windows. There is something lifegiving about the sunshine!
Over the last few years, God has been showing me how the winter season is important in our lives as well. When it comes to plants, perennials take advantage of the winter as a much-needed time of rest.
In late fall as winter approaches, perennial plants begin to prepare for freezing temperatures, dry weather, and water or nutrient shortage. Instead of continuing to try to grow in these conditions, the plants know to stop growing and save their energy until warmer weather returns. This also allows the plants’ roots to continue to develop and thrive.
In Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV), Solomon writes,
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heaven.
I love this quote by Christy Nockles in her book, The Life You Long For:
“We love the marking of seasons and how we can trust that God is working in ways we cannot see. We know that every season is named with purpose. A season of sowing brings forth a season of harvest, just as the harsh cold of winter brings forth a season of dying… a necessary bridge to new life.”
Sometimes we only validate the growth we can see in the moment, and we forget that the growth that we see is actually because of the work God has done in the winter seasons of our lives.
The winter season allows us time to rest and recharge. God didn’t create us to always be producing and working. He established rhythms for us to follow, just as he set in creation. We have rhythms set for us daily by the sun and moon, and we know that we can’t function without rest.
As the day comes to an end and the sun goes down, we begin to feel tired and ready for rest. This rest allows our bodies to recharge and be ready for the next day, just as the perennials follow their seasonal rhythms. There will be times in our lives that God is calling us to rest. We may not understand it in the moment, but God is wanting to do something in us during this season. He may be healing us from a busy season, or He may be preparing us for something that is to come.
The winter season prunes away what we no longer need. If we want new growth to occur in the spring, the old must die. As winter approaches, we pull out all the dead plants to make room for the new growth to come up in the spring. In the winter seasons of our lives, we must trust that God is pruning away what we no longer need in order to do something new.
Isaiah 43:19 (NIV) says,
"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
Next time you feel as if you are going through a winter season, remember that God has you in that season for a purpose and that He is working in your life. When we tuck away and allow ourselves to rest, God is able to show us things in our lives that need to be removed, changed, or surrendered.
Winter is a necessary season for new growth.
It recharges us.
It refocuses us.
It realigns us.
God is working in the dark and dreary season of winter, even when we don’t see it. The fruit of the winter season will come. Stay faithful and abide in Christ and believe God will bring forth new growth in your life.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Karen is married to Scott Blanchard, pastor of Lakepointe Church, and moved from Florida to Michigan in the summer of 2009 to plant Lakepointe Church in Shelby Township. She enjoys mentoring and discipling women and also leads women’s life groups through her church. She is passionate about helping women find their purpose in who God created them to be. She is on staff at Lakepointe Church and loves being part of what God is doing in the Metro Detroit area!