Changing Seasons

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.
 
     Ralph Waldo Emerson

A time to be born, a time to die A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

 To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

 A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

 To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

 A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

 To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

 A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late.

       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB6jhbtDUZE&feature=related

This summer was oppressively hot here in the northeastern United States. There were days, even weeks, when it seemed as if the oppressiveness would never end. But this past weekend, as fall began, we are starting to see and feel signs of change – more comfortable temperatures, less humidity, shorter days, longer nights, leaves transforming from green to brilliant orange, gold and red.
There are certain seasons which do seem as if they last forever. But here in this part of the world, they always change, they always come to a close, they always transition into a new season. That has never failed. That has forever been the case. We can count on that, always.

There are times – seasons – in all of our lives, especially the difficult ones, that carry on much longer than we would like – a trying time in a marriage, an illness that lingers, a challenging year parenting a child, financial strain that creates great instability, times of emotional and lingering insecurity.

We often talk with others who cannot see signs of a new and changing season. They are so often only able to see the current season, with all its fears, frustrations and failures, and they cannot conceive of or imagine that anything can change for the better. And it becomes very difficult to assure them that a new day will dawn. But then a green leaf starts to turn bright orange. Temperatures drop to a more comfortable level. New chapters begin to be written.

It’s the same message we continue to emphasize – we are not in these seasons alone. We have others who can make the journey with us through each season — the comfortable and uncomfortable ones — to remind us that better days are ahead.

How do you remain patient in these difficult seasons?

There needs to be a lot of remembering involved – remembering those better seasons in the past, remembering how past difficult seasons always did transition to those that were better. In addition, we need those who are currently in joyful seasons to be tangible signs of hope for better seasons to come.

In difficult seasons our tendency is to go too internal, holding feelings in, believing that we are alone in our challenging days and months. But our hope is that we can be tangible reminders for each other and for everyone in difficult seasons that seasons always change – they always have and they always will.

Photo by Elisa on Unsplash