Faithful Friday: Seasons

This weekend marks the celebratory close of summer.  Earth seems to know the calendar, as the signs of fall have been slowly appearing.  Leaves are beginning to change, gardens are fading, flowers and plants aren't as lush and bright as earlier in the season.

Seasons are inevitable.  Both in landscapes and in life, there is an ebb and flow. The only thing that stays the same is that everything changes.

 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”  - Genesis 8:22

I've reminded Tim he's in a season right now.  Just about time for winter, he should be healed.  His spring will just come early.  Now is his time to shed the pain, like falling leaves, retreat, and heal.  Just as a brittle tree braces through the winter winds, seemingly lifeless, green soon emerges.  My sturdy oak will survive this and come out stronger on the other side.  It's just a season.
One of my sweet volunteers uses the expression as well, while talking with women facing cancer.  As they share with her their concerns in losing their hair, she wraps them in a hug and reminds them that "this too shall pass."  And then she helps them embrace the change by finding just the perfect wig that helps that woman remember she's beautiful.

Grief has seasons too.  I remember all too well our cold, barren winter after losing Austin.  Fitting that the earth's season matched at the time, though its spring came much quicker than our own.  Healing from such a loss comes in slow steps.  Gradual.  There is no pretty timeline.  And even when you feel you've reached the end, a memory or moment can drag you back to the lonely and coldest season of the year.  You survive because you know spring will once again arrive, in time.

For everything there is a season...but God's promise is that no matter what season we may find ourselves in, He is always there.  That promise is a constant, regardless of the changes that may come our way.  Knowing this is how I can find joy, even in the longest of most difficult seasons of life.

For whatever season you are facing today, hold onto to the hope in knowing a new season will arrive. 
In time.