The Art of Welcoming A New Season
Sometime in my university years, I realized that I had to embrace winter. The school year for college and university students in Canada runs from September to April, which is amazing because we get a long 4-month summer, but it’s also precisely the months when it goes from cool to cold to freezing, back to cold and cool.
I knew that if I’m going to make it through the school years without complaining about the cold weather every single day, I’d have to accept that it would never go above 20 degrees celsius (except for a handle of glorious afternoons in September).
Then, something must have happened to me. Something unhinged, I became addicted to the pursuit of the endless summer.
It started subtly, mixed in with the highs I experienced as I would travel abroad. It was a dangerous concoction of warm, humid summer weather, a wardrobe of airy fabrics and all my favourite dresses, combined with conversations in hostels, instant friendships with 20-somethings who had created unconventional careers, and a phone full of Instagram-worthy pictures.
I drank that concoction summer and after summer, so that by the time I graduated university, within 5 short years, I had been worked in, studied in and traveled to 23 countries.
I could care less if I had a job with a brand-name company lined up after graduation. I had a life. I had tasted this new way of living and no one could convince me that first world fancies where better.
In 2017, I found myself back in Toronto for the indefinite future. (More correctly, God had found me on a hill in Eastern Europe, obliterated my sense of identity, pride and sanity, plucked me out of that paradise and sent me home in a state of total emotional, spiritual and mental disarray.)
Since then, I’ve been coming to terms with what the heck (or hell, for real!) happened to me.
How did I go so far off track that God had to basically break my legs and my soul in order to get my attention? What did I do wrong? But I was following my heart, what felt right at the time! How did I get it so wrong?
Those are questions I will unpack later, but for today, as the Ontario summer transitions to autumn, I am welcoming this new season.
This may be the first autumn that I am catching even before it fully arrives. There are pumpkins on my doorstep and on my windowsill (thanks mom!). I’ve got a fridge full of root vegetables and a growing arsenal of hearty soups to try. I’ve got a vase full of the last of summer’s wildflowers. I’ll be removing my summer clothes from my closet soon and moving the knits to the centre.
I’ve received the sense from God, that this fall is not a “rev-up” for me. Last year I treated the autumn months as another season of creation. It was October 2019 that I wrote and published 18 blogs in a month! I don’t intend of doing that again. Here’s to something different.
How To Welcome A New Season
Set up your home as your sanctuary.
As you pick flowers or coloured leaves for the inside of your home, take a moment to admire the colours. How wonderful is nature and God that we have these tokens of beauty.
I know what it’s like to live in a space that you don’t care about because a) it’s not yours b) you can’t control the furniture or decor and c) you’re leaving soon anyway. Why bother making it pretty?
It’s not just about making a space pretty, it’s about welcoming the sacred into your life. Everything that is around you right now is a gift. The desk, the device you’re reading this one. Someone else was involved in bringing this into your world. It is a gift.
This week, I’ll be making more lettering art as I finally fashion “inspirational signs” for my house.
2. Reflect
September has already brought many rainy days (it’s raining outside my window as I write this) and I look forward to the time of forced introspection. Start a new journal, or dig up an unfinished one, leave a few pages blank and create your own “New Season” divider. My journals are full of thoughts from each day and each new season.
Here are some questions to consider:
What were the gifts I received in the last season? What are the good things that happened as a result of COVID?
What have I learned in the last few months?
What are some of my favourite things from this summer?
What didn’t I get to this summer that I’d like to get to next summer?
Did I meet any new people or make new friends? Take a moment to feel grateful for the new seed of friendship.
What have I lost in the last few months?
What do I want to let go of this autumn?
What does my soul want to grow into?
What do I feel/sense/think God wants to tell me about the season ahead?
And a few questions from my last blog on this:
WHAT IS GOD GENTLY INVITING ME TO RELEASE?
WHAT AM I BEING CALLED TO LET “DIE”, KNOWING THAT THE GROWTH WAS NOT WASTED?
HOW CAN I GIVE A LAST “HOORAH” AND CELEBRATE THAT WHICH IS OVER?
3. Do Nothing.
This sounds odd, yes. And I assure you, at first, it’s very odd to practice. But it is genuinely like drinking a healing tonic for your soul. Even as your reading this, look up for the late, and gaze gently at whatever captures your eye.
Inhale deeply. Exhale deeply. God is here with you. You are being taken care of. God is with you. His love for you is enough.
We are like cars. We have to break if we want to turn corners.
4. Set New Goals, especially Goals that are about becoming, not about doing.
Who do you want to “be” by the time December rolls around? Do you want to be more creative, more restful, more courageous?
This autumn, I set a personal goal for myself that is hard to quantify, but it can be felt. I want to be more peaceful, rested and in constant contact with God through my days. Every time I think of my “goal”, which is every morning, I am reminded to slow down. I am reminded my life is not about productivity or accomplishing. These tiny, quiet internal shifts are my gold. :)
May you find joy, peace and comfort as you welcome this new season!
Blessed Autumn is here. :)
Infinite Love,
Anita
