Lately, I\u2019ve been thinking about changing seasons. It might have something to do with all the advertisements for pumpkin flavored\u2026everything!<\/p>\n
Living in south Florida means autumn isn\u2019t necessarily ushered in with cooler temperatures. Our days are shorter, but we have to travel a couple of states north if we want to enjoy a fall panorama of brightly colored leaves.<\/p>\n
![\"seasons\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Oct.-2016-Fall-colors-reflected-2-169x300.jpg\")
Still if nature won\u2019t cooperate, we Floridians make up for it with our d\u00e9cor. Potted mums greet visitors at home entrances. Pumpkin and gourd centerpieces grace dining room tables. And of course, the fragrance of cinnamon or pumpkin spice wafts through the air, wherever you go.<\/p>\n
Reminds me of Ecclesiastes 3:1, \u201cThere is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.\u201d<\/p>\n
But seasons are not limited to weather or the calendar. We have seasons of life, too. Remember the ancient riddle of the Sphinx, recounted in Greek mythology? It hints at these seasons. The Sphinx asked: “Which creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?” The answer is man<\/em> \u2013 who crawls on all fours as a baby, walks on two feet as an adult, and walks with a cane in old age.<\/p>\n Reflect on a young mom, caught in a seemingly never-ending parade of dirty diapers. Or a young man who doesn\u2019t bother investing in an IRA because retirement seems so far away. Consider a single mom, wondering how she will care for her three children as her car pulls away from the cemetery. Or think of an elderly woman rocking in her nursing home as she listens to a song that triggers memories of her husband\u2019s marriage proposal sixty years earlier.<\/p>\n Often seasons bring experiences we hadn\u2019t anticipated. Suffering we never contemplated. Or joys beyond our imagination. Still, seasons continue to change\u2026and we have a choice.<\/p>\n We can be \u201call there\u201d in our present season, or we can waste the gift we\u2019ve been given by wishing it away while we dream of the past or the future. Grumble about dirty diapers now or an empty nest later. We can resent the injustices done to us by people in our past, and carry those broken relationships into the future. And we can complain about lost career opportunities years ago, using them as an excuse to avoid new opportunities for ourselves. Or\u2026<\/p>\n Or we can enjoy the gift of the present. The moments we have today. The relationships we have that can be strengthened. Words we can speak to encourage someone else. The skills we can learn with the opportunities we have. Most importantly, we can use the opportunities of our present season to grow into the men and women that God intended for us to be.<\/p>\n Ephesians 5:16 tells us how to handle the present. I love how the different translations approach this verse. The NASB tells us to \u201cmake the most of the time,\u201d while the KJV exhorts us to \u201credeem the time.\u201d The NIV encourages us to \u201cmake the most of every opportunity,\u201d while the ESV tells us to \u201cmake the best use of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Whatever the translation, the meaning is clear. The present is<\/em> a present. Don\u2019t waste it, whatever season you\u2019re in.<\/p>\n How do you respond to the changing seasons in your life?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lately, I\u2019ve been thinking about changing seasons. It might have something to do with all the advertisements for pumpkin flavored\u2026everything! Living in south Florida means autumn isn\u2019t necessarily ushered in with cooler temperatures. Our days<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":17991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1551],"tags":[2934,3158,3155,3157,3156,1773],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n