Thursday, August 30, 2012

The changing of seasons!

I can already feel it in the air. The winds have shifted. The temperatures are cooling. And leaves are starting to fade. It is almost time for the season to change. Summer is coming to a close and fall is approaching.

Some of us hate to see summer go. I, for one, am excited to see fall approach. It means cooler temperatures. Here in the south, summer has been very long and hot and dry. I am ready for a change in seasons.

Not everybody is like me though. There are some people who would like the summer to linger on. They like things to stay the same. Things can be predictable that way. If things never changed, we would know exactly how to dress, exactly what the temperatures would be and exactly what time sunrise and sunset occurred.

But just like in life, seasons will inevitably change. It is much easier to handle the change from summer to fall, or fall to winter, than it is to  handle the change of seasons in our life. It isn't quite as easy. Sometimes, it is even frightening and sad. In fact, some of us fight the change of seasons in our life, we hold on tightly to what we have, not wanting any change to happen.

I have experienced some life altering changes in the past few years. Some in which I did not want to let go of. For instance, when our oldest son left home to go to college. Who later got married and moved to another state. Life changing season.

Another life changing season...our second son, joined the air force and eventually was sent overseas for a year. He also got married and after he got out of the service, he moved to a city 2 hours away.

Our youngest son also graduated high school and he left home to attend Bible College ,7 hours away! A year later, he found true love and got married. My baby boy became a man and thrust me into yet another life changing season.

Currently, our youngest, and only daughter is a senior in high school. In just a few short months, she too will graduate, probably move away to college or get married and leave me and dad all alone in this house. She will make my nest to be empty. A completely new life changing season for me. One that I dread but cannot keep from happening.

Some other life changing seasons I have encountered besides the graduating, the leaving, and the getting married, are some happy and some sad seasons. Becoming a grandparent, a happy one. Losing a parent to death, a sad one. Sometimes life changing seasons catch us off guard.

But through it all, I have learned one thing and that is that the changing of seasons can be difficult but not as difficult when we learn to go thru these seasons with God.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 There is a time for everything, and everything on earth has its special season. 2 There is a time to be born and a time to die. There is a time to plant and a time to pull up plants. 3 There is a time to kill and a time to heal. There is a time to destroy and a time to build. 4 There is a time to cry and a time to laugh. There is a time to be sad and a time to dance. 5 There is a time to throw away stones and a time to gather them. There is a time to hug and a time not to hug. 6 There is a time to look for something and a time to stop looking for it. There is a time to keep things and a time to throw things away. 7 There is a time to tear apart and a time to sew together. There is a time to be silent and a time to speak. 8 There is a time to love and a time to hate. There is a time for war and a time for peace.

God has a purpose and a reason for every season! Right now every one of us is in one of His perfect seasons!

The tragedy is not that seasons change, the tragedy is that most of us do not see God's will in each season. There is a time to be born, and a time to die, but it is the in between that we much embrace... the living. This is the season each of us are in now, the living, so lets embrace it and see where God may take us.

Every new season is a new beginning! What season of life do you find yourself in?

1 comment:

Denise said...

A season of great change, but God is with me.