Spring has arrived in Minnesota and we are finding ourselves enjoying flowering trees, green grass, and the sounds of birds. To walk around our neighborhood is to see new life blooming. I, Katie, have been reflecting on the different seasons we experience here on earth.

Coming off of winter, I had a real sense that I was ready for spring, but not because winter was bad. It was just different, and it invited me to a different posture of slowing down, cultivating my inner life, of being reminded that it’s not always about productivity. I realized after such an intense two years of travel, ministry, loss, change, I needed a season to slow down a bit. While listening to a podcast hosted by Ruth Haley Barton this winter, her guest, Marilyn McEntyre, talked about the soul work that is done in the winter season. One thing they said when talking about how often things seem dead in the winter and there is a sense of feeling like nothing is happening. However, as I believe it was Marilyn pointed out, to allow for periods of dormancy is to remind ourselves that when we think nothing is happening, something actually is. This was the quiet truth I felt God inviting me to rest into during the winter. Now, there is a sense of new things taking shape and a new renewed energy and creativity. I am grateful for the winter and I’m grateful for the spring.

During a retreat I, had last month, God continued to prompt me to reflect on the diverse seasons and ecosystems and how each is a space where God can be experienced and growth can happen. In Arizona, with other clergy from the Covenant, I stepped into a world that was completely new for me – the desert. Coming from winter in Minnesota, it felt foreign to see the dry dusty ground and see flowers blooming on a cactus. I had never really seen anything like it.

We stayed at a retreat center that had hiking trails all around and there was time to wander and explore. I was so intrigued by the desert and it’s terrain and vegetation. I felt like it gave me a new glimpse at God’s beauty, creativity and love. I was grateful for the opportunity to share with others spaces of reflection, prayer, worship, silent walks, sunrise hikes, watercoloring, spiritual direction, soul conversations, and laughter. What a gift the Covenant gave us in this retreat, where we didn’t have to prepare or lead anything. We could simply receive. I am used to giving, to leading, to caring for, and it’s often a challenge for me to be on the receiving end. However, there is a season for everything and I really needed the time to receive care, support, encouragement, and the reminder that I am God’s beloved. 

 “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1     

While on retreat the theme of seasons came up again as I read a devotional reflection from The Welcome Table. The focus was on transformation that happens and how often we can’t see it taking place because in winter it happens under ground, or in the case of a caterpillar in the darkness of the cocoon. “When winter comes and growth of the last year falls dormant for a season, we may or may not fully understand what happens below the surface of the land, but we serve as witnesses to regrowth and renewal each spring – witnesses of the transformation that happens within.” (The Welcome Table, March 13, 2026). My prayer continues to be that God would continue to meet me in each season and give me eyes to see what he is growing in me.