......seasons

 

There is an appointed time for everything. And a season for every event under heaven Ecclesiastes 3:1. 

I have visited, but never lived, in a place where there is only one season. I do not think I would really like that very much. It is nice if you live in a climate where the winters are desperately cold, to dream of perpetual warmth. Or, if most of your season faces blistering heat, it is nice to think of cool breezes. Still, I would miss the wonder of four seasons. 

I have a hard time trying to choose which one is my favorite season. In the winter, I look forward to the spring. In the heat of summer, I wait for the fall. One might think I could limit my favorites to spring and fall, but that is not really true. I love the winter in the mountains when the leaves are gone, and the rocks and crags stand out in clear relief. There is something majestic that does not show itself when the green leaves cover the view. And summer: When would you swim or spend a day at the beach without summer? God made them all, and I love them! 

Seems to me that God may have also placed seasons in our lives to remind us of life itself. Spring is the season of beginnings. Summer is the time for growth. Fall is the time of radiant beauty with a hint of coming winter. Winter is waiting for the resurrection that the warmth of spring brings. 

It sounds biblical, does it not? I find it helpful to think in these terms. At no time is it more comforting than when I stand in grief beside a loved one's grave. Like the barren trees of winter, there is no sign of that which I viewed in the radiance of life, but there is the faith that, as certainly as the trees will leaf out and flowers will bloom in spring, this one whom I love and miss has found new life in the blazing glory of God's greatest spring, the resurrection! 

Solomon wrote, "There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven" Ecclesiastes 3:1.  And again he wrote, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart...." Ecclesiastes 3:11.

 

I like to think the seasons are just this way. Especially the part where He "set eternity in their heart." I love the blaze of colors in our East Texas fall, and I grieve the loss when the last leaf has left the tree. But... I also know that as winter has dissolved into spring and summer is coming, the bitter chill and the barren land now watered with spring rains will soon be filled with warmth, growth, and joy!

- bill sherrill