Changing Seasons

I always enjoy the change of seasons.  I think most people probably do.  I enjoy seeing the leaves turn from green to oranges, yellows and reds.  I like the coolness on the breeze.  We have not yet seen frost in our part of the world but it is coming soon.

It isn't just the Fall that is enjoyable.  I also like the transition between the other seasons.  The move from Fall to Winter and then Winter to Spring, Spring to Summer and finally, Summer back to Fall.  Each one is a welcome transition. 

Is it that we get tired of the sameness?  Maybe it is an innate sense for the need to change.  Or, maybe it is just the cyclical realization of the fruits of progress.  There is a bit of agriculturalist in all of us.  The changing seasons signal to the farmer that there is a proper time for all things.  Spring is for planting, Summer for growing, Fall for Harvest and Winter for rest and preparation.

We all experience such things in our life no matter our occupation.  Each new job brings a time of learning, a time of productivity, a time to experience the fruits of our labor and a time of preparation for whatever is next.

Our life is the same.  We are born into a Spring of learning and wonder.  We grow and mature through a Summer of career and productivity.  We mature into a Fall of enjoying the fruits of our labor in retirement, children and grandchildren.  We then enter into the Winter of life where rest comes.  The real question is then one of preparation for the next cycle.  What comes next?

For many people today, the next, sadly, is merely the end of life -- at least in their own mind.  They have nothing to look forward to because they believe only in themselves.  It is only those who believe in God who see the twilight of life as preparation to enter into the next Spring which is one of Eternal Life.

I see myself as being in late summer and entering into the Fall of my life.  I want to remain productive and fruitful as long as I can.  But, I am confident that I will eventually enter the Winter knowing that it is merely the final preparation for eternal Spring.  Are you?

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God^[a]; believe also in me. ² My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”  John 14:1-4