I’m writing this just after the season of International Fashion Weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris which showcased new ‘looks’ for the Spring/Summer season of 2026. While none of the outfits I’ve seen in the press would either suit or attract me, even if I could afford them, I’ve been reflecting on how we approach the changing of the seasons.
As well as preparing for the coming months by having an autumn cleaning session (see last post, Clearing Away the Cobwebs for details), I’ve been packing away summer clothes and replacing them with winter ones. This makes me feel sad, because I know that I won’t be wearing shorts or sleeveless dresses and tops again until next Spring.
Yet, as I wash everything, I enjoy remembering some of the special places where I’ve worn particular things: this dress a lovely reminder of a dinner with close friends at the bistro in a favourite hotel; that blouse a holiday purchase and reminder of walking the narrow lanes of shops in the centre of Sorrento in Italy this summer.
Though bringing out the autumn and winter clothes does, sometimes, make me feel a bit miserable as the longer nights draw in, I do like the sense of cosiness which warmer and thicker clothes bring with them.
Also, I invariably come across one or two garments which I’d forgotten I had. One might be an old favourite which I can’t wait to wear again or something I’ve bought but not yet found the right occasion for. Perhaps this winter season will finally bring the occasion when I can wear it. I enjoy particularly, unpacking my small collection of cardigans and sweaters worn for social occasions or at Christmas, one of my favourite times of the year.
At the moment I’m in something of a ‘changeover’ time in my spiritual life too, as I move from being involved in one church community to another and experience a very different style of worship and church community life. It feels strange to be wrapping up one season of life and habits and unwrapping and trying on new ones for size.
I know some, particularly the Holy Spirit filled welcome and sense of joy, will fit me easily while others will need some adjustment and compromise on my part. As I unpack my winter clothes I know I’m clothing a different me to the one who packed them away back in the spring. I’m feeling challenged but excited at the prospect of blending the old with the new in this time of change.
This year’s spring and summer have been beautiful and the autumn a time of great richness in nature, despite ongoing drought conditions. Yet they have also been seasons with periods of unsettling change and loss in so many fields of personal, social, community, national and international life. This new season will, no doubt, see many more challenges.
Sometimes I find it difficult to decide what to wear for these late autumn days when the mornings can be chilly but the afternoons much warmer. It’s good to have a few transitional outfits. I think, sometimes we need ‘between seasons’ times of transition in our lives as well as in our wardrobes.
It’s always good to spend those times considering what we can wrap up and put away, or leave behind completely, as we move forward into the next season of our lives.
All of my clothes, whether appropriate for summer or winter, are made up of threads of some kind. I love having the security of knowing that God’s love is what is weaving the path of my life together and that it is the thread which will never come loose.
So, as I move into the next few weeks, I’m going to embrace the new season and whatever it has to offer me. I’ll never be a catwalk model but I’m happy to look just as God wants me to look and, more importantly, be just as he wants me to be. He will dress me perfectly for every season of my life.
Enjoy your own seasonal switchover. I hope you’ll relive some good times in your memory sparked by what you uncover, perhaps laugh at some of your historic fashion choices and get ready to wrap up for the season ahead …. or unwrap, depending on where in the world you are!
Sunlight Through the Shadows 