I’m not ready for this.
I want to cling to summer just a while longer. I didn’t rock or swing on the porch enough. I didn’t swim enough or bury my toes in the sand enough. I didn’t walk or bike enough. I didn’t smell enough flowers or watch enough fireflies. I’m not even sure I ate enough Dairy Queen.
Oh, I love the brilliant colors of fall, crackling leaves, bonfires, picking apples, hayrides, fresh cider, doughnuts (one or two), crisp air.
I don’t like what fall portends.
Winter.
Winter does hold its own magic. The purity of white. Snow sparkles in the moonlight. Hot cocoa and buttered toast (or hot tea and cinnamon toast). Baking my body in front of the wood stove. An outdoor hot tub at the base of a ski hill. Snow angels. Squeaky footsteps. Even blizzard excitement.
But…winter!
Sometimes bitter cold. Shorter days. Rising at night. Occasional blankets of depression. Hibernation tendencies.
Yet after winter comes spring. And the cycle continues. Predictable–for the most part. One of the reasons we like Michigan. Changing seasons. A time and season for everything.
John Bunyan wrote, “It is said in some countries, trees will grow but will bear no fruit because there is no winter.”
We need winter times. We need change. Changelessness means fruitlessness. It portends a funeral.
Some changes sweep over us while we search for shells on the shore. A child sent to war. A life-threatening medical diagnosis on a routine visit. A fatal accident. A pink slip.
We anticipate some as we watch approaching storm clouds. A parent placed in hospice care. A disintegrating relationship. Financial collapse. A loved one who refuses to admit an addiction.
Still other changes are sought and welcomed. Marriage. The birth or adoption of a child. Retiring or a new career. A change in residence.
And yet even those changes are seldom easy. In fact, “All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” (Anatole France)
How do we respond to change?
We can fight it.
We can resign ourselves to it.
We can embrace it.
I’ve learned:
When unwanted changes come, lean on the One who is changeless.
When change can’t be controlled, lean on the One who controls everything.
When overwhelmed with change, lean on the Healer of Humpty Dumpty hearts.
To everything there is a season.
Come Fall. Come Winter. I’m ready now.
Are you?
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. (NIV)
Copyright © 2009 by Sandra Heska King
Copyright © 2009 by Sandra Heska King
See there? You did it again! 🙂
Thanks for commenting, Laurie. It blesses me if you were blessed.
This is great, Snady! Very inspirational, and I can relate. Yes, even here in Florida, the days get shorter, it gets quite chilly at times, and the long winter nights can be depressing. But it reminds me there is a cycle of change, even in "forever summer" Florida! And I still miss my Michigan! Kathy Khajeh-Noori
Hi Kathy!
I remember feeling much colder in Florida than at the same temperature here. I remember the water being too cold to swim and power going out on Christmas morning. Can't remember why – a power surge from everyone blasting their heat? And I remember those orange blossoms! Oh my! Talk about fragrant aroma.
I guess some cycles are more subtle than others. Maybe it's possible to be more complacent then?
There are times I miss Florida. Like now. Brrrr.
Hugs,
Snady
Beautiful.
Thanks, Lorna. That tree is stripped bare now. But I'm okay with it.