Seasons

You just never know what to expect in the Texas Panhandle as far as weather goes. I always get antsy about springtime. The grass greens, the trees bud out, and I get flower fever. However, I usually try to wait until at least after Easter or even Mother's Day to plant flowers. It's a good thing I waited this year. Just when I thought we were past the worst of winter, we had a hard freeze and a snow in April! Our trees already had beautiful leaves, and now the leaves are brown on the edges and a little yellow in hue. Many of them have fallen off in the ferocious spring wind.
As I looked at and fretted over the trees, it occurred to me there was a correlation between seasons of our lives and nature's seasons. There are times when we feel comfortable, warm, and like we are blossoming. We get complacent and feel invincible. We feel in control. Then, BOOM, something dark and cold hits us like a freeze in nature. We curl up like the leaves on the trees. Some of us stay curled up for a very long time, some just give up and fall into a deep depression just as the leaves are blown from the trees, helter skelter with no direction. Others decide to hang on for dear life, seeking strength from the fragile stems clinging to the branches. We search for answers, pray, plead, and seek advice and consolation from those we consider to be oaks, strong and steadfast. The sun shines on the leaves, causing them to surge with new life and urges them to continue with the business of photosynthesis bringing oxygen to our lungs. The Son shines on us, reviving us and gently prodding us to get on with the business of taking care of our families and jobs. We can breathe deeply and feel new life and hope surging through our veins. God is always there, during the bitter cold, the sweltering heat, and the comfortable temperatures. It reminds me that we have to have the extremes to appreciate the calm even more.

To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal ...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to lose and a time to seek;
a time to rend and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.

ecclesiastes 3:1-8