The Slow Work of Seasons: Meeting God in Cyclical Time
As May dissolves into June, the school year draws to a close, and the sun continues to gift us with more and more light each day, we recognize the signs of spring shifting to summer. These seasonal cycles meet us every year, over and over again. Yet so often, we’re thinking only of planning ahead in a forward direction. Where will we go for summer vacation? Which summer festivals and events do we want to attend? Which grad parties, birthdays, and weddings will we celebrate? Then, before you know it, we’ve planned ourselves all the way into the season of fall.
This Western way of operating is called linear time. We think of time as a line. We prepare for the future and, sometimes, turn to reflect back on what’s past. But time itself moves in only one direction. We’re moving forward whether we like it or not.
Yet nature reminds us that, actually, time is more fluid than that. Non-Western cultures and spiritualities recognize this truth, as this quote describes:
“Unlike linear time, which constantly moves forward, many Native American Traditions are centered around cyclical time. Cyclical time moves in loops, like the seasons, which means that through the Creator, the universe is constantly giving people opportunities for renewal, restoration, comfort, and hope.” (Native American Spiritualism by L.M. Arroyo)
This cyclical work of nature and time reflects the seasonal way God often works in our lives. We have seasons of joy and gratitude and seasons of deep grief and desolation. We may think we have learned a particular lesson or achieved some new level of spiritual understanding, only to find the same idea circling back around to meet us again ten years later.
This repetition can feel frustrating. Really, again? Haven’t I already been here before? We humans so often want to move on when our invitation is to circle back, to walk the worn path again. It won’t be the same this time, because we are not the same. Cyclical time offers us new perspective that we couldn’t get any other way. The slow work of seasons is God working in our lives, no matter how stuck or frustrated we may feel.
Like the growing rings of a tree, we are shaped and marked by our experiences. Each time we cycle through the same four seasons again, we meet our Creator in ways that are the same yet different, as we take a slightly shifted perspective on what God has to offer us.
In this approaching summer season, we invite you to consider how cyclical time is playing out in your life.
Where are you feeling frustrated or stuck, like you’ve been here before? Can you lean into that feeling, acknowledge it, and choose to hold it loosely?
Where are you feeling a sense of renewal, restoration, or revitalization, like a plant bursting into bloom after a dormant winter?
In what ways are you different this summer than you were at this time in past years? How might you encounter the Creator this season in ways that reflect this “same but different” perspective?
An Invitation from Sacred Ground
In this season of growth, life, and sunlight, you may find that a nudge of renewal or seed of new life has taken root in your own life. If you’re feeling a call to deepen your spiritual life, we invite you to join us to learn more about our Spiritual Direction Formation and Training Program at our upcoming online open house.
The Formation and Training Program is a place of transformation. At the online open house, you’ll hear from faculty and alumni about how that this environment of spiritual formation has changed their story. If you’re interested in engaging with other spiritual seekers in a no-pressure space, please register to join us on June 15th.