Daylight Saving Time has arrived, and spring is in the air in southern Illinois (at least for a few moments). If you know me very well, you know I’ve been counting down for spring pretty much since the time changed last November, but I don’t want to miss the gifts of winter, either. So I’m taking a few moments to pause with a reminder from Emily P. Freeman to reflect on what I’ve been learning in the past season before rushing into the next one.
Here are a few things I’ve learned (or have continued to be reminded of) this past winter:
1. I’m still enamored by anything that reminds me to stop and pay attention–to notice God in the everyday, the mundane, the difficult, and the joyful.
This is something God has been working in me for a long time and is part of the reason I write on this blog, but somehow I’m still surprised by how much the necessity of such a simple practice captures my heart. A big catalyst in this area for me was when I first read Ann Voskamp’s book, One Thousand Gifts, several years ago. I was blessed to go through it fully again for school this winter, and it completely blew me away afresh. Stopping to count, name, and give thanks for the gifts God provides every day is such a life-giving practice, not just for survival, but to bring joy in the midst of every season… because God is present in every season.
Then the last book I read for the class I most recently completed was The Attentive Life by Leighton Ford, and it awakened my heart in whole new ways to the same concept. Ford reminds us,
As you learn to pay attention, it makes a difference in the here and now.
You will see things you have not seen.
~Leighton Ford, The Attentive Life
You will be more fully alive.
You will experience life in its depths.
You will be more rooted, less rushing.
You will be a more whole and loving person.
You will live before you die.
I long for this to be true of me in becoming more attuned to noticing and giving thanks for God’s provision in every moment. It’s part of why I continue to write Treasure Hunt Tuesday emails each week as well. (You can sign up on the “Let’s keep in touch” form at the bottom of this page if you’d like to receive them!) I continually want to remember and share the blessings and treasures God brings to my mind and heart.
2. Not everyone has an internal monologue… and most people can actually see images in their heads when they close their eyes to visualize them!
Both of these realizations were fascinating finds for me from posts circulating on social media recently, although I hadn’t really given either one of them much thought until those moments.
First of all, I am definitely someone who has a running monologue going through my head at all times (but not really with a sound like you see portrayed with voice-overs in the movies). It was interesting to read this article detailing one person’s discovery that not everyone else related to his experience of having an internal monologue and how it blew his mind to see the responses he received from friends who process thoughts differently.
Then a week or two later I came across this video from someone who has what is called aphantasia, or the inability to see pictures in her head. Even though I’m a very visual person, I think I have the same thing… If you ask me to close my eyes and picture an apple, I see nothing. I can think about the apple and tell you what an apple looks like, of course, but I don’t actually see it in my head. I never realized that many (or even most) people can see vivid images just by visualizing something in their minds. It’s been fascinating for me to think about how differently people can experience the world even in just these two simple ways.
3. Christmas is still hard, but Advent always captures my heart.
It seems I say it every year, but as much as I can dread the holidays, I never get tired of remembering the story of Jesus that the Christmas season can bring to the forefront of our minds. Leaning into the waiting for His coming, celebrating His perfectly-timed arrival in a humble and unexpected-by-the-world kind of way, and looking forward His return at the second Advent all stir my heart toward hope and peace even in the midst of heartache and longing.
It’s hard to believe the season marked six years since my husband’s passing, but God continually reminds me of the faithfulness of His presence and the joy of His coming.
4. God seems to have a special way of speaking to my heart through youth group.
I love getting to spend time with our junior high and high school students at church on Wednesday nights, and over and over, it seems God uses the students and our lessons to speak to my heart as well. We just wrapped up a study on the book of Colossians, and every bit of it has been so good–talking about the supremacy of Christ over all and the mystery of Christ in us, how He has made us alive in Him and canceled every charge against us in victorious triumph over the cross, how we die to our old selves but fully live hidden in Christ, setting our minds on things above and clothing ourselves in His love and compassion, doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus–all of it has had me fired up in sharing with our students and hearing them process these truths, too.
Then the final lesson in the video series from Louie Giglio ended on a personal note with Paul’s final greetings in Colossians 4:7-18. All the names that are hard to pronounce for adults, not to mention for students, can be easy to skip over, but Louie pointed out how seemingly small acts of faithfulness could be worth mentioning by name in the Word of God.
In the midst of everything going on in the world, God sees and calls you and me by name. I pray our students remember that message. I’m humbled by how much I needed to be reminded of that message as well. Maybe you could use the reminder, too? God calls you by name. And your faithfulness today matters in eternity.
It brings me to more words from Paul in 1 Corinthians:
“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” ~1 Corinthians 15:58 (NIV)
5. Major life changes are still somehow hard for me to talk about on social media (so I have a tendency to save them for blog posts).
Even though the people who see me week in and week out have known since around Christmas time, I haven’t really shared the news online yet (and honestly I’m still not ready for public Facebook comments about it because there are several related decisions yet to be made)… but I actually bought a new house this winter!
Getting completely moved is going to be a long and slow process, but I think having views like this just outside my door is going to be good for my soul:
So I’m giving thanks for the gifts and lessons from the season that is completing and looking forward to spring and how God will keep providing new life!
I’d love to hear from you as well! What’s something you’ve been learning in the past season? Feel free to leave a comment or send me a message anytime. And remember to sign up below if you haven’t already done so to receive my weekly “Treasure Hunt Tuesday” emails!
Excellent read!!
Thanks so much, Carla!