Sometimes it feels like life is like that, doesn’t it? They say we live through seasons of change and some of those seasons feel long, especially when we are dreaming of the next season, while others seem to skip right past us. Like wait! What happened to summer? Suddenly I look in the mirror and see fall in the lines on my face. (Have to admit, this dog’s wrinkles are cuter than mine!) 🙂
I get nostalgic this time of year, despite the beauty popping out all around me. As we drove home from church the other day with the windows down and the blossoms bursting with whites and pinks on the trees, I was reminded how much I love this season. But more than new life and the promise of better days, is all of the memories that come with spring.
I won’t bore you with the details of the family birthdays and anniversaries, even though they contribute to my nostalgia. I think it’s the fact that the celebrations have changed or disappeared as time has moved on. Most of our parents are gone, our kids are grown, and all of the little things I enjoyed doing to make their days special…well, there is no reason left to do them.
Well, okay then. That’s a bit melancholy! The fun part is that we still have events we love to celebrate all year long and are grateful for each family member who joins in with us. This month marks a milestone for our youngest son and next month marks another one for my mom, who will be 95 years young. I’m pretty sure she never expected to reach this season of her life.
And really, we don’t know what kind of future God has for us, do we? Sometimes I look at the changes as negative because they aren’t what I envisioned life to be. But then I remember…but God. He has a way of fixing things that aren’t quite right and turning things upside down. What I worried about as a kid (like losing my 95 year-old mom) never happened. So what I concern myself with today seems a little pointless, yes?
Tomorrow could change everything in a way I never expected. Maybe I’ll look in the mirror and find even more lines on my face! Well, okay, let’s not go there.I’m just working to make sure there are more laugh and smile lines in the future than the worry ones of my past.
And that’s the thing about seasons. Just because we are in the spring of our life – you remember those days – you were ten going on eighteen, right? – doesn’t mean we should wish those moments away because we think the next season will be better. I know, I know. If we’re young, we have more restrictions and we can’t wait until we can make our own decisions. That son who is celebrating a milestone birthday asked for no curfew for one of his birthdays. He couldn’t wait to grow up. Now he’s grown up and into his summer years. How fast spring disappeared. Kind of like it did in Michigan this year.
I was no different. I couldn’t wait to grow up. The grown-ups got to do all the cool stuff. But the grown-ups had all of the responsibility that comes with that, and I wonder how many of us wouldn’t mind letting some of that go now and then?
But even then, with jobs and kids and mortgages and the super stresses of being caught between raising kids and caring for aging parents, we do ourselves a disservice to wish even one moment past. Because the truth is, it will be. Far too quickly.
The seasons may seem to drag on forever sometimes. But I promise you the next one will come. Summer. Fall. Winter. Spring. Born. Grow. Adult. Depart. Some call it the circle of life. Sure. You could say that. But it’s really the pattern of creation. And as with the seasons, winter, like departure or death, is not the end. Spring comes again. And the next life that follows death for the Christian will be like spring that never ends.
So no matter what season of life you are in right now, remember for those of us in the U.S., it is springtime. The time when hope springs new. Even if we’re in the winter of our bodies, spring is still coming.
~Selah
#seasons #springtime #alwayshope
