Wintering Moments

I recently came across a helpful word: wintering. Just as winter is a time of slowing down in much of the natural world, author Katherine May uses this word (in her book Wintering) to describe our need to rest and recuperate during life’s “cold” seasons. Sometimes we resist the need to slow down, hoping instead for a more eventful season. But sometimes winter, when things appear silent or sometimes even dead, is the season when the most important growth takes place.

Ecclesiastes famously says there’s “a season for every activity under the heavens”— a time to plant and to harvest, to weep and to laugh, to mourn and to dance (3:1–4). I had read these words for years but only started to understand them in my wintering season. For though we have little control over them, each season is finite and will pass when its work is done. And while we can’t always fathom what it is, God is doing something significant in us through them (v. 11). Just as plants and animals don’t fight winter, I needed to rest and let it do its renewing work.

I wonder now how often I fought the wintering moments of our infertility journey, trying to push through the energy-sapping experience of an adoption assessment or IVF round, when I really needed a season to recuperate.

Infertility is an exhausting circumstance. But in God’s hands, seasons are purposeful things. They will pass when their work is done. Let’s make space for such times of wintering, receiving His renewing work in each one.

Reflect: What might God be wanting to do in your heart and soul this season? What lessons can you learn that others may need to learn from you one day?

Pray: Dear God, help me rest in this season of wintering. I may not know what You are doing with this time, but I trust You are doing Your good work in me. Help me to be patient and moldable in Your hands. I trust You to bring something beautiful and unexpected out of this season. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Was this plan helpful? We adapted this plan from Praying Through Infertility: A 90-Day Devotional for Men and Women by Sheridan Voysey. Check it out for more.