Take a deep breath and arrive here fully.
If there has been a winter in your soul lately,
A long stretch of hardship,
Grief,
Waiting,
Or spiritual dryness,
I want you to know that you are welcome in this space exactly as you are.
Now close your eyes if it feels safe.
Breathe in slowly.
Breathe out even slower.
Notice the air.
The fact that you are still here.
Still breathing.
Still held.
Winter does not have the final word,
Dear friend.
Exhale.
Song of Solomon chapter 2,
Verses 11 through 12.
For behold,
The winter is past.
The rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth.
The time of singing has come.
Hear that again,
Dear friend.
The winter is past.
The time of singing has come.
These are the most tender words in all of Scripture.
A blessed,
Beloved,
Speaking to the one they love,
Come,
The winter is over.
I want you to hear God speaking those words to you this morning.
You may be in a season where spring has not quite arrived yet,
Where the flowers are only beginning to appear,
And you're not quite sure yet whether to trust them.
Emergence after a hard season is fragile.
It requires courage to open again,
To hope again,
To let yourself be moved by beauty when you remember what it felt like to lose it.
But God calls you out.
Come,
Beloved.
The winter is past.
Not just the winter outside your window,
But the winter that may have settled in your spirit.
The cold season of loss or doubt,
Or maybe a season of just weariness.
God is speaking over you right now.
The time of singing has come.
So I have a question for you.
Can you allow yourself this morning to believe that?
Not that everything is perfect.
Not that all is resolved.
But that the season is changing.
And you are invited into the new one.
Take a moment to simply reflect on that.
Now,
Let's pray.
God,
I don't always know when one season ends and another begins.
Sometimes I'm still bracing for winter,
Even when spring has already arrived.
Lord,
Will you help me to receive today's mercy with open hands?
If there has been a winter in me,
Thank you for holding me through it.
For the ways you never left.
Even when I could not feel you,
I thank you for the small signs of life that kept appearing even in the cold.
This morning,
I open myself to the possibility of spring.
I loosen my grip on the grief and the hardness.
And the waiting.
I don't want to miss what you are doing because I'm still protecting myself from what was.
Oh God,
Let the time of singing come.
I'm ready.
Let it come in my spirit.
Let it come in my daily life.
Let me hear it first in the quiet of this morning.
And carry it with me through this day.
Amen.
Now,
Dear friend,
Receive this closing blessing.
The winter has passed.
You made it through.
And this morning,
God calls you out into something new.
So go gently.
And let yourself bloom.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
