revolved around the myth of the dying and the rising god. The deity was invariably connected with the cycles of the seasons, “dying” in winter and “rising” in spring as signs of life reappeared in the fields and forests that had seemed barren during the season of dormancy.

It’s understandable that the ancients constructed these beliefs. They had the “proof” of the cycle of dying and rising all around them and ascribed to unseen spiritual forces the natural cycles of the earth. We have a different faith and understanding than they, yet we share with them the experimental knowledge that the human heart has cycles, too. As a spiritual director, I listen to the stories of people’s lives, of the action of the Holy Spirit weaving together a tapestry of relationships to people, places, and events in ways that inextricably bind us to one another. When we prayerfully reflect on our experiences, we find that they are infused with the life-force of the Spirit in ways that might not, on the surface, seem obvious to us.   

Sometimes, looking at the moments of our lives may seem like looking at a barren field or a copse of deciduous trees in the bleak mid-winter. At first glance, we may miss the life-force at work, the care and presence of the Spirit.

On an even deeper level, we may forget completely that we carry the enlivening Spirit within us. The Kingdom of God is within . . . us. Whatever season of our hearts – whether we feel filled with the promise of new life and hope springing forth, the warmth and light of summer glory, whether we are wistfully clutching the fading beauty of early autumn, or faced with the gray austerity of late autumn or the bone-chilling coldness of a wind-swept field in winter – wherever we are spiritually, God is there whether we “know” it or not, whether we “feel” it or not.

Unlike the myths of the annually dying and rising deities, Jesus Christ died once and for all and rose again from the dead once and for all. It has no more to do with the vacillations of the seasons than it does with the fluctuations in our moods. Jesus Christ’s love is steadfast and sure for all “seasons” in all times and all places.  Thanks be to God who gives us the assurance of mercy and the ever-present grace and comfort of the Spirit in every season of our life.