Seasons Change

Seasons change.

Fall is here. The leaves have revealed their colors and abandoned their branches. Winds are getting colder and snow isn’t far behind.

We’re never surprised when fall turns to winter. It happens every year. And even through the trees appear dead, we know there’s life inside and that spring will come. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but it’ll come nonetheless.

So why are we surprised when the seasons of our lives change?

The first twenty years of our lives involve the most change. We’re thrust from a warm, comfortable, isolated womb into a brightly-lit, crowded, freezing-cold room, stark naked. And it only gets worse from there.

We have seasons of elementary school, learning the basics to help us through life; then, middle school, high school, college, earning a living, maintaining a home, marriage, and raising other “victims” of the seasons.

Seasons then come in reverse as children move out of our lives into their own and we end our season of working. Eventually, we find ourselves alone again in a warm, comfortable, isolated place, hopefully not stark naked again. We may be in our own home or an institutionalized one.

Why should we be surprised? The thing to remember is that there is still life. No matter how barren our lives may look or feel, we still have life inside. Our brains are still working, so we can exercise those muscles by reading and learning every day we live. And we can share what we’ve learned with those around us.

My kids grew up and moved out, one to another state. My husband died. I retired. I downsized and relocated to be near the son who’s still in-state, but I live alone. Most of the time, I’m warm, comfortable, and isolated from the world, but not stark naked as I started out. Since I’m a writer, I’m supposed to read an hour a day, which translates to two books a week. That would be enough to keep me happy yet alone.

I try to schedule one thing each day to get me out of the house so I don’t become a hermit. It may a walk around the neighborhood, a trip to the grocery store, or lunch with a friend. Each one gives me a reason to shower and dress; otherwise, I’d be perfectly content to lounge around in my pajamas for days at a time.

I’ve become an old woman. This is the season I’m living in now. But there’s life, no matter how hidden it may seem.

Maybe it’s best that we don’t get upset when we find ourselves in a new season, a new chapter. We can’t stay two years old forever, unless there’s something wrong with us. And our flowers will not bloom all year, unless we live in a tropical clime.

We’re going to face changes in our lives, some of our own making, others thrust upon us. No matter why a new season comes, let’s thank God we have life to deal with whatever we face each day and attack it head-on.

Who knows? We just might enjoy the new season.

I wonder what God has in store for us today.