Tis the Season

I have always thought that the seasons began at the beginning...:)  with Spring being first and Winter being last and in my mind I matched up the seasons of life in that way...Spring being birth and childhood and Winter being old age and death....but of late I have been seeing it differently....Perhaps this is not what the Maker had in mind at all...perhaps Winter is the first season....it seems to me, looking backwards, that this may be the case.   Just think of it....Winter is a quiet season...all the work of nature is mostly being done in a quiet way...underground without a lot to show....wildlife and humans are hunkered down often buried by a blanket of snow...plant life is hidden, resting...could this not be when we are children..being formed in our mothers wombs, being born and proceeding to become....eating and learning and practicing skills...hidden and growing within our own family units and being fed and shaped into what will be...so that when Springtime comes...we blossom forth...reaching out into the world.. to begin expressing what has been nurtured with in...we laugh and breathe and everything is exciting and new...we scamper to and fro gathering, experiencing, absorbing....still growing and becoming, still being fertilized and pruned and taught so that in Summer we can bear fruit...the fruit of a profession, a home, a family of our own, the time when our own specific gifts and contributions to society can come forth....Summer has a steady rhythm and is truly the heart of the year.... in the South it is the longest season...certainly it is the most fruitful and gratifying.
And then your responsibilities to the future begin to slow a bit and before you know it Autumn is upon you...And it is Glorious!  All your senses are assaulted by crispness and color and startling beauty...hard work and years of contribution come to fruition ... it is the time of full harvest, a time to survey all you have built and earned...all that God has been faithful to give ....a time to tie up loose ends, rest and reflect a bit and enjoy the fruits of a lifetime of preparation and labor.  Truly a glorious season of life...and for all the Seasons may He say "Well done, my good and faithful servant".

Ready, Set, Go

 

I have been thinking on seasons...seasons of life.  Unlike the natural seasons that turn round and round reliably every year, we as humans do not necessarily get to repeat seasons in our lives...our teen age years...our child rearing years...career choices...on and on...time runs in a linear fashion for us...going forward but not going back...and yes, sometimes we do get a "do over"...we go through a second dating season or start a second or third career...we get to have input into the raising of our grandchildren....but mostly time marches forward...and that is usually a good thing.  Because although we may have learned much the first time around...it seems to be God's plan that each generation learn the hard way and we only get to share insight with those behind us...

I/we, my husband and I are entering the almost retirement phase of our lives and we are looking very much forward toward relaxing a bit, enjoying each others company more often, traveling and so forth....and it has come to me that although I really miss the ministry season of our lives...I do not necessarily desire to return to it.  We recently have had several former ministry connections to contact us and perhaps the door could be open to that again...but I just don't know...I can't tell if this is "trying to return to a season that is past" or the glimmer of a new season entirely...only God knows and He will surely have to lead the way because right now I have no desire for that season again...I keep thinking of the verse in Ps 92 and looking forward to the promise that since we are planted in Him we will continue to grow and flourish and show the Lord's righteousness in all the upcoming seasons of life, this I am ready for.

Ps 92:12-15 
The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;
To shew that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.