Healing the winter blahs
I’ve always loved summertime. But as school started up and the weather cooled, I used to dread the approach of winter.
During wintertime, I struggled to feel motivated and joyful. I also felt a lack of purpose and faced challenges to my well-being. For several years, I tried different methods to overcome this, but nothing ever lasted. Being a lifelong Christian Scientist, I have had many meaningful healings that have consistently shown me that turning to God is effective and transformative. And because of this, I finally realized that prayer was the most natural and necessary way to permanently deal with the winter blahs.
Prayer felt like the most natural way to permanently deal with the winter blahs.
One winter, I was wrestling with this negative seasonal pattern when something we read in my Bible class at school struck me. We were studying the Apostle Paul, whose three missionary journeys as recounted in the New Testament were marked by beatings, ridicule, and imprisonment. Despite these hardships, Paul never abandoned his mission because he understood the importance of what he was doing. I reflected on this contrast: Here I was, allowing the weather to derail my sense of purpose, while Paul persevered through genuine persecution.
For class, we often memorized Bible verses. One was from a letter Paul wrote to some early Christians: “You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober” (I Thessalonians 5:5–6, New International Version).
Even though feeling purpose and motivation was challenging, I realized I could draw inspiration from Paul’s sense of duty and spiritual hope. The idea that I could be a light to the world was exactly what I needed to pull me out of this slump. Because we are all made in God’s image, I knew that I, too, am the expression of God’s qualities, including joy and purpose, and that that’s what it means to be a light. This truth transcends seasonal conditions.
In Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth, he writes: “For this reason we do not lose heart: Even though our outward man is perishing, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day. Our light affliction, which lasts but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (II Corinthians 4:16–17, Modern English Version).
These ideas became particularly meaningful during difficult winter days. They reminded me that my identity isn’t defined by the darkness of a season or by any struggle that I might face. Instead, my identity, which is totally spiritual, is permanently good—like God, Spirit. This encouraged me to stay alert to negative thoughts and turn to God for spiritual hope when I felt pulled in the opposite direction.
Paul’s words reminded me that my seasonal struggles were temporary—“but for a moment”—while the spiritual growth and strength I was gaining would have lasting significance. Feeling weary and unmotivated was not part of my identity. The “inward man,” my spiritual identity, includes renewal and strength.
My identity isn’t defined by the darkness of a season but is permanently good—like God.
I found comfort in Paul’s story because his unwavering trust in God enabled him to endure terrible experiences. And understanding Paul’s perseverance helped me approach the seasons differently. Instead of feeling weighed down by the darkness or sluggishness of winter, I began to see it as an opportunity to practice the spiritual strength Paul describes in his letters.
As the weather has gotten colder this year, I’ve found real comfort in the understanding of God’s infinite joy and in my God-given ability to express that joy. Prayer has helped me stay grounded in recognizing my purpose as God’s reflection.
I’m grateful to have learned that, regardless of the season, we are all, always, children of light.
