The excitement of beginning a new school year is long past, the joy and bustle of the holidays are over, and another semester of school has started. If the snowstorms that have already blanketed the Northeast are any indication of what is in store for us this winter, it’s time to stock up on all the makings for hot chocolate, favorite soups, and other comfort foods! But besides our physical needs, we also need to anticipate the attacks to our emotional and spiritual well-being that can be the result of a season that keeps us inside the house for extended periods of time.
The writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us “to everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.” Looking out the window, pondering another gray day, we may not realize that seasonal changes are part of God’s design for us and, if viewed from his perspective, will help us welcome the winter days ahead.
Beating Cabin Fever
Some people struggle more than others during the “cabin fever” months. The body’s natural circadian rhythms can place us at war with the cold and dark, so we need to anticipate the possible depression or discouragement that may come. Taking advantage of the daylight hours, especially on sunny days, and spending some time outside each day will help maintain balance. Even a few minutes on the deck or a quick trip to the mailbox, breathing in fresh air, will be a mood-lifter. Bundled up, children will appreciate outdoor play even on the coldest of days!
Rather than fighting against the negative aspects of the season, anticipate the change and choose to embrace this as a regular time for drawing the family together around your hearth. Consider the atmosphere of your home, and plan to make it an inviting respite from the weather.
A Scandinavian Approach to the Winter Season
Those who live in the Scandinavian countries use the word “hygge” to describe the mood they hope to create in their homes in order to endure the long days without light and warmth. Describing it as similar to the Christmas spirit, “hygge” goes beyond the familiar idea of coziness. Helen Dyrbye, author of Xenophobe’s Guide to the Danes, describes it as the “art of creating intimacy: a sense of comradeship, conviviality, and contentment rolled into one.”
What a great goal for homeschooling families to pursue! By establishing our own plan for creating “hygge” in our homes, we can look forward to the winter season!
Seasons remind us that all of life is in some stage of change or another. Recognizing this to be true and preparing to embrace those changes helps bring us to spiritual maturity. Seasons of parenting, seasons of marriage, seasons of life callings, all of us will experience these, and learning to welcome the seasons each year as the calendar changes helps to prepare us for those times that are more difficult to accept.
Seasonal changes also create hope in our lives, reminding us that God is both unchanging and at the same time able to change all things according to his will. We once lived on the bottom floor of an older brick apartment building where our living room windows sat at ground level. After a particularly hard winter, both emotionally and weather-wise, I looked out one morning to see, under the evergreens that hid our windows from the street, the bright purple tops of tiny crocuses poking their heads through the icy snow! It reminded me that God, who painted the landscape with a winter wonderland and, as an encore, brought fresh new life to greet me, was teaching me that he is able to change not only circumstances but human hearts in his own time, in his own season!
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven . . . He has made everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11).
This article originally appeared in Family Magazine 2015, Issue 1. Click here to learn more!
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