Living in Michigan, we never know when winter will actually be over. I stand ready! Every December I see the snow as festive holiday fun, but after the first of the year, I am ready for that season to change.

A spiritual life is about learning to understand life, ourselves, our purpose and our place in the world. We know that what’s in our consciousness is what we become.

In my consciousness, winter is about being indoors; like the hibernation that many animals do – resting – awaiting spring. With that type of thinking, I enjoy staying inside where it’s warm. There is more time for meditation, prayer and self-reflecting.

My husband has a different consciousness. Being born in the U.P. and attending college there, he LOVES the cold. It’s the perfect consciousness for him when giving ski lessons at Pine Knob.

The holidays sure add some positivity to what might be some gloomy dark days of late fall and winter. It’s almost as if the powers that be, or perhaps people from ancient times, intentionally put days of celebration in those months to lift our thoughts during the colder dark days of winter.

The first day of spring is always exciting because you know even if there is snow on that day, summer is around the corner! Spring’s arrival means extra daylight. Now we have almost an equal amount of day and night. It’s called the Spring Equinox and it arrived at 8:33 a.m. on Sunday, March 20, 2022.

An online search revealed a lot of information and pictures. Ancient people celebrated the changing of the seasons. And, because we have the Internet and books written about so many things, I like to think we live in a more advanced age than ancient people.

However, more and more I find that the ancient ones were very innately aware of nature’s energies. Maybe they had less to occupy their time so there was extra time for meditation, prayer and self-reflecting. All of which provides a channel for you to become more in-tune with the earth and all of life.

The earth has energies that carry a vibration which our bodies will attune to and mirror. The waters of the earth respond to all moon changes. The sun being so fabulously bright, invigorates everything to spring forth and come to life. Spring is a happy time. The days are longer and the warmth is awesome. It’s a time to celebrate the goodness as well as the change of seasons.

But the seasons are not celebrated or recognized by most people. It’s quite possible that many believe these days are only celebrated by Pagans; who are religious but their beliefs are not that of main Christian religions found around the world.

Yet, many of the days we celebrate were first Pagan celebrations until the church claimed them.

Charles Fillmore’s metaphysical dictionary, The Revealing Word, tells us that Pagans are those who believe in the power of material things. An example: those who worship money, view money as their God. This got me curious, so I looked up worship. Charles identifies that as: “When one worships, he bestows his love on or identifies himself with the things of Spirit. Worship represents the efforts of man to sustain a right mental attitude toward God.”

Hmmm, self-check. I like having equal or more hours of daylight. It makes one feel more alert and peppy. Those thoughts could be misconstrued as worshiping the sun. I looked up sun – The realm of consciousness that has been illuminated by the Spirit. “The greater light to rule the day” (Genesis 1:16).

Ah, light, exactly! Next, I looked up Genesis 1:14-19. It’s part of the Creation story. It tells us about lights. It reads: “And, God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years. And let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth.’ And it was so. God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well. God set these lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth, to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And, there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.”

Did you hear the celebration though? The Creation Story says, God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. If God said, “Let the lights be signs to mark the seasons and days and years,” why are these special days not given more attention?

Let us give them more attention. A full moon shines its light on darkness and all things hidden. A new moon has the energy of new things coming forward, possibly new beginnings. Celebrate the light and changing seasons by going inward. Open your consciousness to positive thoughts flowing in and visualize good changes coming forward.

You’ll SPRING forward into greater things, expand your mind and grow into a higher version of yourself.

Learn more about growing beyond what you already know about spiritual living at Unity of Lake Orion. See us in person or watch our videos on Facebook. During Lent the videos help you to release old stuff in your mind and body and replace it with newer and better thoughts.

Happy Spring,

Linda La Croix

Linda La Croix is Prayer Chaplain & Unity Director at Unity of Lake Orion.

Look for La Croix’s column, A Spiritual Walk, regularly in The Lake Orion Review, and”Like” her Facebook page, A Spiritual Walk, to find more positive thoughts.