Crosstalk: Finding light as the nights draw in
The nights are drawing in. Winter, no matter what a person's faith or belief, invites a deep sense of spiritual reflection, writes our correspondent Patrick Aldred.
It is a season of stillness, when the earth rests and all creation seems to pause. The silence of snowfall, the bare branches, and the crisp air remind us that there is holiness in simplicity and peace in surrender. Nature teaches us that rest is not an absence of life but a sacred part of its cycle.
Many spiritual traditions view Winter as a time for turning inward. When the outer world grows gold and silent, the inner world awakens. The long nights encourage meditation, gratitude, and renewal of spirit. It is time to shed whatever no longer serves us, just as trees release their leaves, trusting that new growth will come in its season.
The starkness of Winter also reveals a quiet beauty - one that speaks of endurance and faith in unseen renewal. Beneath the frozen soil, seeds lie waiting, gathering the strength to bloom again. This hidden life mirrors the spiritual truth that transformation often happens in silence, beyond the reach of the eye.
Whether through prayer, reflection, or simple mindfulness, Winter calls us to reconnect with The Divine, with nature, and with ourselves. It whispers that stillness is sacred, that endings are beginnings, and that even in the coldest moments, life continues to breathe beneath the surface, patiently awaiting the return of light.
Winter then, becomes not a time of loss, but of quiet spiritual awakening.
Rev Patrick Aldred, head chaplain for Shrewsbury and Telford hospitals
