Changing Seasons

I sat in my car in the parking lot of the school while the hot sun beamed into my car scorching one side of my body.  As usual, my son's football practice was going over time, so I found myself deep in thought as I waited.  On one hand, I was feeling so grateful that I was finally feeling better after a year of health issues.  On the other hand, I was saddened by what was loss.  The simple pleasure of ordering anything I wanted off a restaurant menu had now become a fine science.  Loss.  The pitiful looks I received from friends who noticed my weight loss made me want to isolate.  Loss.  The friends that I could no longer go out to eat with, because I wasn't able to enjoy the places we used to go.  Loss.  Or the friends who simply disappeared, because I could no longer offer the favors they required or had gotten used to from me.  Loss.  So much had changed over the last year.  

As I started my car and drove around to the other side of the parking lot to reposition the sun from the side of my body to the back of the car, I said to myself, "Just a few more weeks until I start seeing signs of my favorite season, fall!"  That's when all the beautiful colors start to show up like God has sponge-painted earth's entire canvas. He gives us a beautiful show of magnificent color ranges in reds, yellows, oranges and burgundies.  The show reaches a plateau, then showers down leaves as we drive down the street watching the canvas come alive like a kaleidoscope.  Then, just like that, the curtain drops and there's a long intermission called winter as He prepares the next scene.

God has given us so many resemblances in life and nature.  And I no longer view my temporary seasons as permanent conditions.  I am more keenly aware of how the rain keeps things growing.  And how the fallen leaves make room for new blooms.  And no matter how long and cold winter seems, spring is still coming next.  Genesis 8:22 says, "As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease."  Our lives sometimes have the same extremes as summer and winter.  

So as I sit in the hot sun, I look forward to the coolness that is to come.  As I reminisce on what is loss, I look forward to what is to bloom.  As I think of the suffering I've had to endure, I am excited by how much more the blessings will be appreciated.  So I enter into this next season in gratitude and expectancy of what is to come.

My son finally shows up to the car with an ice pack fastened around his knee.  Being a concerned mom, I ask what happened and if he's okay.  He smiles and says "I got tackled and fell onto my knee, but I'm fine.  It's just part of the game, Mom."  I smiled to myself and thought "I'm so glad he understands what comes along with the season."

Love Always!
Shy