Change of Seasons

God in His mercy gave us the wonderful gift of “changing seasons”. I love it that God is a God of variety. The fall season has just begun, at the time of this writing, with its wide range of variances. The hot sticky ‘dog days’ of August have slowly morphed into the cool relaxing days of autumn, with its chilly nights. It can be fascinating, if you enjoy the cooler weather.

As I drive along Highway 66 in Oklahoma, on each side of the street, most of the trees have turned from their soothing jade and forest green shades to bright orange, brown, red and yellow. People have set out scarecrows, pumpkins and decorated their properties in the most morbid fashions, in anticipation of the Halloween celebration. Yet, in spite of the morbidity, I enjoy the vast array of changing trees.

Soon these cool autumn days, filled with brilliant color, will soon turn to frigid temperatures and falling snow, ushering in the last seasonal change of the year, along with the most popular holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. The thought of this season, brings me to my life lesson for today.

In life, we each pass through seasons. The first is the spring season, from birth to our late teens, when we go through the planting stage, picking up all kinds of seeds for our garden; unsure of the best seeds to plant and thereby picking up some thorns and thistles along the journey.

Then we move into the summer season; those hot twenties and thirties, when we’ve gotten old enough to make legal, all of the many things we thought about doing in our adolescent and teenage years; when the first harvest of our spring planting blossom and bring forth the fruits of our spring choosing.

Next, are the autumn years forties through the sixties; those years when you come to realize that some of the choices of your spring planting were not the wisest. You realize that the summer crop, although not all bad, can afford some tweaking; and you realize that you still have time to plant another crop, the winter crop. You know that the frost will surely fall upon it; however, it will make the seeds planted taste so much better at the harvest.

Now that the seventies and beyond have found their way upon you, those precious winter years, you learn to enjoy them the most. Why, they possess the two greatest holidays of the year, Thanksgiving for the years you’ve seen and the experiences you’ve had; plus the Yuletide season with its bountiful decorations, the smell of the log fire and the roasting nuts and marshmallows; the sleigh rides, the well wishes and the scrumptious food. Ummm! Then there is the gift of grandchildren, with whom you can play and enjoy – then box them up again and stash them with their parents, until you’re ready to play with them again.

Ahhh! The seasons of the year; the seasons of life; the joy and wonder of a heavenly Father who loves us; what more can you ask? Whoo-hoo!

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