Ecclesiastes 3:1

“There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.”

 

When the sun rises over the horizon, I can feel the promise of a new day. When the moon rises in the evening, I am comforted by the realization the stars are all in their exact place in the bright night sky, and morning will too soon follow. I love when the seasons change, when the wind blows from a different direction, and everything moves into the next part of life.

 

I love to walk around our property and see all the changes each new season brings. Right now, things are really beginning to wake up. Budding trees, plants popping through the top layer of soil and baby birds ready to hatch. This week the farmer was discing around the edges of the field, preparing it for planting. The bees are busy visiting every little bloom they find, while supporting the hives and storing up food for the next winter. The cats sunbathe on the warm patio, and the pansies are adding some color to our landscape while we wait for warmer days.

 

The transition is not seamless- we still have frosty nights that may kill a few tender plants. We still have spring rain to endure, which will wipe out a lot of seedlings, and promote weeds to grow. There will be crazy thunderstorms, wind and hail before things calm into summer. Nothing happens perfectly, and no season of change comes without the price of transition.

 

This price of transition translates into growth. Like a seedling, we must endure change and accept our environment to a certain degree. There isn’t a lot about our lives we can control. There are things we can do about our own personal choices. When we figure out we can change our lives and those of the ones around us it certainly is empowering. We cannot change the seasons we are in, but we can change how we react to them, and how we allow them to change us.

 

While I welcome spring fully, the promise of summer is enticing. I know in my heart fall will roll around, and eventually the winter will blow in with fury. The system will continue to start over and replay itself, like a never ending record of events. We will continue making our best decisions, and reacting the best ways we know how to these changes. We will continue to pray and worship, while blessings are showered upon us like the rain and snow that inevitably will fall.
Regardless of the season of life you are in, let us  make the decision to slow down and soak it up, reacting well to all life has to offer us.  Let us rejoice in gladness the things that make us smile, and pray fervently over those that break our hearts. And let us always look forward to the next season, which is always just around the corner.