Embracing Life’s Rhythms: The Winter, Holidays, and New Year

Have you ever pondered the rhythms of the holiday season? 

After gearing up for winter and the shorter days, we have an opportunity to slow down, almost hibernate, and cozy up during the winter months. Soon after, we switch gears for the holiday season and its celebrations. Then again, we shift our focus from celebration to preparation for the New Year that’s upon us.

We slow down. We celebrate. We prepare.  

This is a natural cycle in the calendar year. It’s predictable and steady, even when the unexpected happens. It seemingly continues despite the various trials that life might bring us. Whether the unpredicted happenings are loss and grief, broken relationships, health challenges, financial struggles, or loneliness, we still find ourselves riding the wave of this pattern in the natural. 

I like to think there’s a spiritual cycle that happens when unexpected things happen in our lives. A “winter season” comes up, and this is when we must cozy up with God in the darker months. Not just for warmth and comfort, but for rest and renewal in Him. Whatever trials we face in this life, our response should be slowing down and lingering in His presence longer than usual, for winter is upon us. Despite the heavy darkness, God shines His light on us to illuminate truth and life. He reminds us of His grace and restores our brokenness.

As we heal, we shift gears to celebrate. In our spiritual winter months, a “holiday season” emerges, and we move into a joyous response for our salvation and new life in Christ. We celebrate, testify of His goodness to us, and share His kindness with others. We recognize the healing and salvation and rejoice! (Psalm 30:11-12)

Then, like the holiday season every year, there’s a short period before the New Year comes. We have a brief time to prepare for a new season. However, most of us may not realize that the preparation for the new season began in the quiet moments at the start of winter. Our daily routines and habits settled into their place without us realizing it. How we spent our winter months will likely reflect in the new season that’s just around the corner. 

Around this time last year, my husband and I moved to Grand Junction, Colorado. We celebrated this life change and looked forward to the newness of it all. However, unexpected events in both of our families led to a variety of emotions: frustration, grief, anger, brokenness. The dark winter months settled in, both naturally and spiritually, and we slowed down. We cozied up with God and processed these emotions, no matter how uncomfortable or cold the winter got. After what seemed like the longest spiritual winter, the holiday season came, bringing clarity, healing, maturity, and gratitude.

Coincidentally, this syncs with the natural rhythm of life even now. We’re getting ready to celebrate Christmas and then prepare for the New Year in the natural world. As we look back on this last year, from when we moved to today, we recognize that everything we did over this long winter has set us up for the seasons ahead. Our goals shifted because of what we learned.

We prepare for the New Year and the new season with readiness and understanding that life will always have the unexpected. But because of God’s grace for us, there’s a reminder in the natural that seasons always come and go. Some are shorter, others longer. But the rhythm of seasons remains.

We slow down. We celebrate. We prepare. 

Wherever you find yourself this holiday season, may you discover the profound beauty in each phase of life’s cycles. Embrace the stillness, relish the joy, and invest in the quiet moments with God. May you find peace, renewal, and the timeless assurance that, just like the seasons, there’s a rhythm that follows every unexpected event. Take time to slow down with God in these wintery moments, because celebration and preparation follows soon after.