Four Fertilizers for Spiritually Dry Seasons

Caitlan Rangel reflects on and shares four tools for when we experience dry seasons in our spiritual lives.

Spiritual Seasons

My kindergarten daughter and I have been learning about and observing seasons in (home)school. We read the children’s picture book The Year at Maple Hill Farm by Alice and Martin Provensen as part of our discussion. After we read the book, I asked her to choose a month or season, tell me about it, and draw a picture. She chose August, and said, “It’s hot, very hot.” So verbose.

In her answer, God reminds and comforts me: some seasons are simply summer. Some seasons in the spiritual life are “hot, very hot” or “dry, very dry.” That does not make us bad or God bad. We can expect it; it’s part of the cycle of the spiritual seasons. The hot seasons will pass and God is working, even in the heat.

I’ve recently gone through a season of spiritual dryness, which for me meant I went through a stretch of not experiencing lovely spiritual consolations like the warm comfort of feeling wrapped in God’s loving presence, or the springtime of joy, creativity, and energy from prayer. The sadness of the world felt piercingly sad and even the beauties of the world brought me easily to tears (there were lots of tears — my poor husband was probably confused!). And prayer just felt like nothing — dry.

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Even if we can expect dryness, it doesn’t become any less dry or more enjoyable. We are thirsty for something, for God’s presence.

So, what can we do in seasons of spiritual dryness? Here are four fertilizers that have helped me.

Fertilizer 1: Fill Me

When I pray in a season of dryness, my prayer may need to shift or become simpler. I have found the image of an empty cup or chalice to be helpful for me to pray with.

I close my eyes and imagine an empty chalice, and simply say, “Lord, fill me.” I might speak further and share, “I feel empty and that I don’t have anything to say or give right now. I need you to fill me.”

It is good for us to be in this posture of humility and hope for God’s presence.

Fertilizer 2: I Will Not Let You Go

One temptation of a season of dryness could be to just not: I’m not getting anything out of this, so I’m going to skip prayer.

But, this misses an opportunity to grow in faithfulness and perseverance.

When we show up to be with God, even when we feel we do not get anything out of it, we say to God, “I am here. I love you. I trust you. I will be faithful to you.”

A lovely and wise friend of mine sent me this article that reflects on when Jacob wrestled with God and said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” It is an encouragement to us to persevere as we wrestle with God in prayer through dry seasons.

Fertilizer 3: Smaller and Slower

In The Year at Maple Hill Farm, the farm dog lays down in the dirt in August to find cool and rest from the heat. Taking a break from his usual running, hunting, and playing, he gets smaller and slower.

In seasons of spiritual dryness it can also help for us to get smaller and slower. For me, this may look like being in nature and observing how small I am in all of God’s creation. I am one part of God’s vast and intricate designs.

Smaller and slower also looks like focusing on small acts of love I can do — nothing great or grand, just doing small sacrifices through the day with love and humility. As Saint Teresa of Calcutta said,

Don’t look for big things, just do small things with great love … The smaller the thing, the greater must be our love. (Mother Teresa’s Instructions to the M.C. Sisters, October 30, 1981)

Fertilizer 4: Saint Friends

Finally, in seasons of dryness, it can be consoling to come near to saints who experienced and shared about their own seasons of trial and feeling far from God. We can learn from what they experienced and also from how they responded.

Saint Teresa of Calcutta and Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) have been good friends to me. Read books of their writings or pray prayers they prayed. These two would advise: Come closer to Jesus in the Eucharist, trust in God’s work and closeness even in your suffering, remain faithful as God is faithful to us.

These saintly friends intercede for us and cheer us onward in our own journeys toward heaven.

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Growth

No season lasts forever. The dry season will give way to growth of some kind. A growth in trust, humility, perseverance, charity, or compassion.

Though one day it is “hot, very hot,” we may be surprised on the next to feel a cool breeze touch our skin once again.

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Four Fertilizers for Spiritually Dry Seasons