Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.
These four words describe the constant flow of our humanity.
What we may not see is how the Earth's seasons parallel the seasons of our life.
The Spring season of our everyday life is where the anticipation builds. It's when life is beginning to fill, opportunities are beginning to surface, and everything seems to be coming together. We may experience some minor set backs but nothing can take our eyes off of the events that are ahead.
Summer is our arrival. There are many points in life where we feel accomplished. We believe that we have finally received our payoff for all of our hard work. There is nothing that can stop and nothing will stop the sun from shining on our achievements. We hope these days never end.
Then comes Fall. Maybe it's an event, mistake, fade-out, or direction change; whatever it is we're stopped right in our tracks. We were hoping the rays of summer would never fade out and suddenly we begin to see the leaves of our lives begin to turn and the weather begin to chill. This isn't necessarily a miserable time, it could still be filled with joy as we reflect on what the Summer season of life was like. Though, altogether we begin to doubt. We start to wonder if what we are doing is what we were meant to do. All of the sudden our hopes and dreams don't feel big enough anymore. We feel like we've been chasing God's plans all along but begin to wonder if we've been pursuing to our full extent. This season is dreary, it's the time that cools our boiling hearts to nothing more than a lukewarm stagnation.
Eventually we slip into winter. Sometimes this season comes unexpectedly. We may be warm one week and require a jacket the next. We begin to wear more layers and our breath turns to fog. The layers of our winter are emotions like frustration, anger, bitterness, confusion, and regret. We aren't sure what we did to walk away from the excitement of summer and walk into the chill of winter. This is where we are at our low. We don't know what to do in order to get out of this chilling part of our life, but we are willing to try anything. We want to feel the heat of summer pounding down on our heart's desires. We want to dream again, create again, and succeed once more. However, we can't shake the comfort of our layers.
I don't know what season you may be in right now, but I believe we have all experienced these different times. Our lives are constantly rotating and adjusting. We are always adding more layers and taking more off in order to adjust to our environment.
Maybe you're reading this and winter isn't just the season our Earth is in right now. You know what it means to be stuck outside in a personal snow storm. You are wondering if life will ever heat up again. You want to dream again, you want the joy you had in your summer, you just want freedom from the layers of emotions you have covered yourself with.
If that's you, I want you to know:
There
is
hope
in
the
dead
of
winter...
Until Tomorrow,
Shane
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