Turning of Days: Lessons from Nature, Season, and Spirit

By Hannah Anderson and Nathan J. Anderson

Return to creation. Encounter the Creator.

From the beginning, Scripture tells of a God who created the heavens and earth. It tells how he made the sea and land, the rosebud and beetle. But what might the heavens and earth tell us were we to listen to them? What wonders might the birds and flowers share? What might we discover of order, chaos, beauty, and unabashed grace?

Turning of Days beckons you to a world of tree frogs and peach blossoms, mountain springs and dark winter nights—all in search of nature’s God. All in harmony with Scripture. Join Hannah Anderson, the author of Humble Roots, as she journeys through the four seasons searching out the spiritual and theological truths woven deep within the natural world. This collection of devotional essays and illustrations will feed your soul, guiding you into a life of observation and awe, a life that sees His glory everywhere.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Moody Publishers
• Release date: Feb 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9780802497376

Hannah Anderson

HANNAH R. ANDERSON lives in the haunting Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She spends her days working beside her husband in rural ministry, caring for their three children, and scratching out odd moments to write. In those in-between moments, she contributes to a variety of Christian publications and is the author of Made for More (Moody, 2014), Humble Roots (Moody, 2016), and All That's Good (Moody, 2018). You can connect with her at her blog www.sometimesalight.com and on Twitter @sometimesalight.

Book preview

Hannah Anderson’s meditations in Turning of Days capture my heart at the core. It is like a walk in the woods with the Scriptures. Her words come to life on the pages, enhanced further by the natural images. It is like a flashing yellow-light invitation to slow down and drink deep of God’s goodness right here in this wild world he has made. Turning of Days is a worthy celebration of beauty that comes at just the right time.

SANDRA MCCRACKEN | Singer and songwriter, Patient Kingdom

This book left us breathless. It powerfully knits the threads of natural revelation and grace, and reflects the consistently holistic way our loving Creator reveals Himself. Hannah’s stunning writing and Nathan’s delightful illustrations elevated what we get to call our daily work in a way that will never leave us.

SARAH AND STEVE PABODY | CEOs, Triple Wren Farms

Gracefully written essays turn gently with the seasons. Each opens with an experience in nature and ends with relevant teachings of Scripture. Anderson’s writing is intimate, moody, soothing; at times searing, like nature and life itself.

JULIE ZICKEFOOSE | Author and illustrator, The Bluebird Effect and Saving Jemima

As soon as I finished reading Turning of Days, I went back to start reading it again. There is an abundance of searching, patient wisdom here, drawn from things we always see but rarely notice, and written in beautiful prose. Read, and enjoy.

ANDREW WILSON | Teaching Pastor, King’s Church London

Christians throughout the centuries have affirmed what the Wisdom Literature of Holy Scripture states bluntly: that if we had ears to hear and eyes to see, we would discover in creation an alphabet of theology, or as the Reformer John Calvin once put it: how the little birds that sing, sing of God, how the beasts clamor for Him, how the elements dread Him, how the mountains echo Him, and how the flowers laugh before Him. This, too, is what Hannah Anderson invites us to discover in her beautiful series of reflections on nature: the ways of God in the works of God so that we might revel in the wonder of God. As a theologian and an artist, we loved this book, with its delightful illustrations by Nathan Anderson, and we hope many others do too!

DAVID AND PHAEDRA TAYLOR | David is Associate Professor of Theology and Culture, Fuller Theological Seminary and author of Open and Unafraid; Phaedra is an artist and gardener

Turning of Days brings reminders that will both inspire and comfort you. You’ll be reminded of God’s faithfulness through His Word, displayed in nature.

RUTH CHOU SIMONS | Founder of gracelaced.com; bestselling author of GraceLaced and Beholding and Becoming; coauthor of Foundations

The apostle Paul tells us that God’s eternal power and divine nature can be clearly seen through the world around us. But it is often hard to read nature’s testimony, for we’ve forgotten the vocabulary. But Turning of Days is a delightful primer for us all. Take and read! After that, get yourself a little blank book and pencils then take a long, slow walk outside and transcribe creation around you—as is so delightfully modeled for you in these pages.

NED BUSTARD | Illustrator and designer of Every Moment Holy

© 2021 by

HANNAH ANDERSON

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

All emphasis in Scripture has been added.

Details of some stories have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates.

Edited by Amanda Cleary Eastep

Interior and cover design: Erik M. Peterson

Cover and interior illustrations by Nathan Anderson

All websites and phone numbers listed herein are accurate at the time of publication but may change in the future or cease to exist. The listing of website references and resources does not imply publisher endorsement of the site’s entire contents. Groups and organizations are listed for informational purposes, and listing does not imply publisher endorsement of their activities.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Anderson, Hannah, 1979- author. | Anderson, Nathan (Illustrator), illustrator.

Title: Turning of days : lessons from nature, season, and spirit / Hannah Anderson ; text illustrations by Nathan Anderson.

Description: Chicago : Moody Publishers, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: Turning of Days beckons you to a world of tree frogs and peach blossoms, mountain springs and dark winter nights-all in search of nature’s God, all in harmony with Scripture. Join Hannah Anderson, author of Humble Roots, as she journeys through the four seasons in this collection of devotional essays and illustrations. Take a look, and see His glory everywhere--Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020036763 (print) | LCCN 2020036764 (ebook) | ISBN 9780802418562 | ISBN 9780802497376 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Creation--Miscellanea. | Seasons--Religious aspects--Christianity--Miscellanea.

Classification: LCC BS652 .A64 2021 (print) | LCC BS652 (ebook) | DDC 231.7/65--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020036763

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020036764

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To our parents who chose the land and raised us close to it. We love it because you loved it first. HRA & NDA

Contents 

From the Author

Venturing Out

Spring

I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII

Summer

I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII

Fall

I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII

Winter

I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII

Learning to Listen: A Field Guide

Acknowledgments

Notes

Friend,

Thank you for choosing to read this Moody Publishers title. It is our hope and prayer that this book will help you to know Jesus Christ more personally and love Him more deeply.

The proceeds from your purchase help pay the tuition of students attending Moody Bible Institute. These students come from around the globe and graduate better equipped to impact our world for Christ.

Other Moody Ministries that may be of interest to you include Moody Radio and Moody Distance Learning. To learn more visit www.moodyradio.org and www.moody.edu/distance-learning.

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The Moody Publishers Team

From the Author

THIS BOOK IS A BIT OF A PARADOX because it attempts to use words where nature doesn’t. Writing it was no less paradoxical, and I imagine reading it will be as well. The primary paradox, of course, is that God chooses to reveal Himself through both the natural world and the Holy Scriptures. He chooses to make Himself known through both the universal and the specific. He is the God of both common and particular grace.

Those accustomed to knowing God in certain ways may find it challenging to encounter Him in different ones. Perhaps you’ll ask, What can nature teach me about God that Scripture cannot? or If I can meet God on a mountain top, why should I worry about a book? But let me suggest different questions: What will you miss if you don’t encounter God in all the ways He chooses to reveal Himself? What will you miss if you don’t embrace the paradox of revelation?

In Psalm 19, David writes that the heavens declare the glory of God and that the precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart; and with this, David shows us how to love both the works and words of God. More than metaphor, the natural world is a living, pulsating experience of truth that surrounds and enfolds us, teaching us deep realities without words. And more than a mandate, the Scripture is a stable source of truth standing outside and apart from us, teaching us those realities that exist beyond nature’s shifts and time’s evolutions. Together, both reveal the Divine.

Ultimately, we must embrace the paradox, learning from nature what it must tell us and learning from Scripture what it must tell us. But if God is the God of both nature and Scripture, do not be surprised when they say the same thing. Do not be surprised when they sing in harmony.

One final note: I wrote this book as a collection of devotional essays (rather than in my typical book-length form) because I want to invite you to slow down and reflect on nature’s testimony. Of course, you’re welcome to read it straight through, from beginning to end, but you may find yourself frustrated by a lack of narrative arc and neat resolution. Instead you’ll find a collection of vignettes and sketches roughly organized around the four seasons as we experience them in the mountains of Virginia. I chose this form to invite you into a way of seeing the natural world by modeling observation and repetition over time. I suppose you might say I’m inviting you into a kind of field work.

As you read and reflect, I hope you’ll begin to understand the deep truths that shape our days and years on this earth. If I’ve done my job, you’ll encounter both wonder and fear. Beauty and horror. Visible and invisible. You will be enlarged and brought low, drawn close and kept at a distance. I hope you’ll find yourself more comfortable with the paradox that is life and, perhaps, even more at peace with the God who gave it to you. But more

Reviews for Turning of Days

[Libby Bradley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is a breath of fresh air. I adored every minute of its quiet wisdom and reflection.