Seasons

The end of August.

 Another season coming to an end. 

A good friend reminded me again this morning at church....this time we are living in is just a season. I need that reminder a lot. 

  Seasons come and go, but our Lord stands fast evermore. The question for me is: Am I making the most of this season I am in? Or am I wasting it by wishing it were different? I don't want to look back at my life and have my most prominent emotion be regret. Regret that I didn't enjoy the varying seasons of my life more. 

 Here is the thing with seasons, you can't pick them. God designed them to be what we need to sustain life here in this world. And He designed to come at set times. Those times might vary from place to place depending on where you live, but they do come. Each in its own time. And then they pass and it is time for the next season. I want to live in full enjoyment of the season I am in, in every sense of the word and in every facet of life.

  I do actually have favorite ones... the absolute top is Spring. Bursting with fresh hope and new life and beauty. And then Fall next with its cooler weather and all the accompanying coziness that surrounds that season for most of us.  But there is so much to enjoy in every season if I take the time to listen and hear and see and observe.

  In my children too. I love the baby seasons. Innocence and trust and wide eyed wonder. But every stage of growing up has so much joy to be found. The excitement of trying new things, the maturity and discipline that comes from the hard stuff. The comfort of deepening friendships. Each one beautiful in its complexity.

    I have found the "lesson of seasons" is seen so clearly in a garden. It was the most exciting thing to actually have a successful garden this year. It looked beautiful, and grew like crazy, and produced well. Until it didn't. Until the cows got in and trampled a lot of it. Until the caterpillars invaded and stripped tomato plants. Until I got too busy to properly tend and prune and tie up and cultivate.  And then the season was past, and we pulled it all up. And I see so many life analogies in that reality.  And then I see grace. Again.

  God's grace that gave the life to begin with. And His grace in blessing our lives with it this year. And Im reminded that's its not all dependent on my performance, because Im going to fail. But His grace never fails. And always outgives my expectations.

  May I live in this season and await the next with an expectant and thankful heart.