Release into the New Season......

The "new season" whispers to our hearts very, very quietly at first....and maybe only now and then. Like a breeze that you sensed just softly touched your face and you turn but can't distinquish where it came from or exactly what it was. It caught your attention though and you paused momentarily. Often the new season enters our awareness so subtly and briefly that we are apt to miss it and instead pick up our normal pace and activities again without pausing to consider the nudge.

As the new season draws nearer, we may notice an increasingly frequent breeze, stronger and more persistant than before. It becomes much harder to ignore and begins to cause us to stop and turn around....to look around and listen, to ask questions of its source, where it came from and where it is going. It begs us to stop the direction we were headed and get truly present into our current circumstances and actually turn to face the breeze...to really listen and to feel on a deeper level where it is wanting to take our body.

We can choose to fight it...press back against it and push into the force as its pressure continues to mount and breeze turns to wind. We can fight it out of fear or insecurity, heart weariness, woundedness, pride, stubbornness, distrust or because we just don't see clearly where the direction of the wind will take us...and we want the comforts and assurances of the ground on which our feet have been safely planted. What if we imagined the breeze, if our sense was wrong...what if we appeared foolish for stopping and paying attention....for letting go...and letting our hearts be carried into the new season. Sooner or later we will discover this truth....that trying to move against the new season really does take so much more energy than turning and releasing the body to be carried by these fresh winds.

In my own life, that is how God seems to move and invite my participation. The subtle breeze released by a comment or suggestion from a praying friend, a small invitation accepted or the turning of the handle on a door slightly ajar seems to slowly build into the winds of a bold opportunity, a fork in the road with a sign that says "This way", a wide-open door or authentic relationships that speak bold truth into my life and begin to shift the trajectory of my path. God just asks that I be willing to stop my scurrying about and attempts to make my own way and sense His presence in the people and curcumstances in my life.....that I release my grip on what is preventing me from freely moving with the wind. Its really a powerful, mysterious and beautiful force.

So today I let go briefly and was carried a little further into the direction of my own new season. It was a small, simple circumstance yet held the possiblity of carrying me with great momentum. I can honestly say it was a beautifully terrifying experience filled with a good measure of hopeful discomfort! I'd highly recommend the ride. Do you sense the whisper of a fresh breeze in your own life? Are you pressing against the winds of a new season and are tired of the fight? Wont you consider falling back into the wind for a time and letting yourself be carried to the next place....into the hope and Divinely creative possibilities of your new season?