seasons of life

This morning, before heading outside to my car from the building I was in, I turned to the lady next to me and said, "I'm excited for the day when we won't have to brace ourselves before going outside into the cold weather."

She quickly agreed. We are only a week or so away from the official first day of spring. The snow will take a lot longer to disappear, but spring is around the corner. And you know what? That knowledge that spring is coming gets many people (including me!) through what often can be a long, cold winter. The picture of warm weather and sun shining onto green grass keeps us going when we are up to our knees in that white, and often brown, mush we like to call snow.

I realized this morning that same hope of the next season is what has been getting me through the difficulties I've had over the past few years. Hope that tomorrow will come and tomorrow might be better, but even more than that, the hope that in one, two, five, ten years, I'll look back and say, "Remember the day that happened? It was horrible, but look at all the good that came out of it and look where I am today."

I don't know how long seasons last, but I know that a day will come where a better season starts and life will look completely different. Two examples: I remember the week my brother, Brian, passed away, I kept thinking, "The day will come when I'll be a year or two passed this and I won't hurt this much." That day has come. I still miss him a lot, but life has gotten a little easier, even though we miss Brian on regular basis. I fully believe that the day will come at some point in the future when I'll hold a newborn baby of Erik and mine in my hands and we'll say, "Our firstborn son is in heaven; this is our second born and we're excited to raise him/her." That's what keeps me going through difficult days.

Life is filled with seasons and just like Australia's winter comes at a different time than Minnesota's winter, people go through seasons at different times. Sometimes it's the people in the middle of "spring" who are there to remind the people in the middle of "winter" that good things lie ahead for them.

That's why people are so important. We all provide different perspectives. Some perspectives are tainted by the season people are currently in, so we have to give people grace for that. But we also need to learn from everyone around us.

Seasons happen.

Ecclesiastes 3 says:

 ¹ To everything there is a season,

      A time for every purpose under heaven:
       ² A time to be born,
         And a time to die;
         A time to plant,
        And a time to pluck what is planted;
       ³ A time to kill,
        And a time to heal;
       A time to break down,
       And a time to build up;
       ⁴ A time to weep,
      And a time to laugh;
      A time to mourn,
     And a time to dance;      ...

The chapter continues along this line of thought... then verse 11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time."

That's the God I serve. A God who takes the season we are in and finds good in it... He takes the snow of life and brings you a mountain to ski down. He takes the open lakes and brings you a fishing pole. He takes the mud of spring and brings you a dirt bike. He's a God who also takes you through each season to the next one.

Seasons are a good, God-thing. Something beautiful is either buried or on the surface of each one.