Fall is my absolute favorite season, and October is my favorite color! I love it when the temps cool off and the leaves change….especially the bright orange and red ones. I always loved raking the leaves into big piles and watching the kids jump into them. Bonfires and s’mores. Hoodies and jeans. And of course…my favorite…football.

I’m a visual learner, and I think God gave us the different seasons to give us a visual aid of what life can look like. Where I live, we have 4 very clear and definite seasons. Spring, summer, winter, and fall. (Or almost winter, winter, still winter, and construction!) 🙂

They vary in length and temperature, and no two are the same. They don’t change on the same date every year. Some years we have an early warm spring and some years we have a nice long fall. Most years winter is 6+ months and bleak and cold and snowy. But the constant in every year is the seasons always change.

In life, we go through different seasons. Some we love and look back on with fondness. Graduation. My wedding day. The birth of my kids. The highlights.

And there are some seasons we’d just as soon forget. Seasons we didn’t like at all. Or even hated. They hurt. They left scars. They did damage like a tornado in the summer.

And there are even some seasons that haven’t come yet. That we’re looking ahead to with great anticipation, “Won’t it ever get here? Hurry up already!!!” Or seasons that are coming we’d rather avoid….that we’re dreading.

No matter what we do, time marches on. And I’ve learned a few things over the years by marking the seasons:

Seasons come and seasons go!

There’s nothing we can do to stop the cycle. No matter how much we want to hold on to one or are dreading another, seasons always change. We need to learn to flow with them. If we’re holding on to yesterday or wishing our life away waiting for or dreading tomorrow, we will miss all of the God-moments in our todays. Be present.

We can’t change the season!

Dressing for summer in the middle of winter will not change the season or make it come any faster, no matter how badly we want it to be summer. The only thing it will do is make us cold! No matter what season we’re in, there’s something to be enjoyed and treasured. Find it.

Every season has a purpose!

Spring rains get the ground ready for planting and everything comes back to life and is new again. The heat and sun of summer cause the crops to grow. In the fall, we harvest the bounty and the plants get ready to hibernate. In the winter, everything looks dead and bleak and useless.

We walk through things in life that are fun and wonderful….like spring and summer…when everything is fruitful and flowering and warm and growing.

We also walk through seasons where it looks so dead and dry and like it will never be useful again. And we can tend to get discouraged in these seasons, just like we do when winter never seems like it’s going to end and spring will never come. When it looks like it will be bleak and cold and snowy forever.

Spring always comes. Always. But we NEED winter. Without the rest that it brings, the plants and ground wouldn’t thrive and produce in spring and summer like they should.

In my life, I’ve had seasons I’ve loved and seasons I’ve hated. Seasons I wish I had never walked through. But the best part every season, even those “dead” seasons, is that I was never alone. He always brought comfort and strength and peace and even joy. And He walked me through into a new and fresh season. Every time. Always.

There’s no need to hold onto yesterday. And there’s no need to dread tomorrow. He’s already in our tomorrow preparing it for us and calling it good.

I look back at old photo albums and laugh. Even at the horrible outfits I’d rather forget I wore (the clothes in the 80’s were never a good idea). Even at the terrible hairstyles (the hairspray industry made a killing on us).

But I can look back and laugh now, even at the awful years. Even at the times that hurt. Even at the times I’d rather forget.

I wouldn’t want to relive them, but they don’t hurt anymore. Because He heals. Because He makes everything beautiful in His time. Because He works all things together for my good. Because seasons always change. Keep walking through. Another season’s coming.

But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.
O Israel, the one who formed you says,
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.
When you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you.
For I am the Lord, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. (Isaiah 43:1-3)