Seasons Change and So Do I

[Maryanne Winder Lester]

Seasons Change

Good Morning God. Thank You for this perfect day You have created. It’s overcast, a little chilly and looks like it might rain. This is a glorious day! My back is hurting and I have a headache. You have made this day beautiful and I rejoice in it! Amen.

I had let myself fall into a season where I was constantly moving back and forth between happiness and despair, Spring and Winter. And, I must admit, the despair took it’s hold on me more often than it should have. I was worried. What a sinful and fleshly place to be. When we worry, we are telling God, “I don’t trust You to carry me.” But, He proved how wrong I was. He has carried me to a place that I thought I couldn’t even hope for. He has taken me higher than I could even see. Today is the day we pick up the keys to our new home!

March 20^th was the first day of Spring (if you live in the Western Hemisphere). Look at all the changes that have happened since that time. Springtime is absolutely beautiful in Atlanta. We wait anxiously for the first signs of blossoms. The yellow and white daffodils and jonquils break through the earth first. The dogwood and Bradford pear trees are the first flowering trees to awaken from their winter sleep. When the colorful azaleas, in all their hues of pinks, reds, white and oranges start to bloom, we know that winter is finally behind us until the next season. Spring is the most anticipated season of all. But this year, I was personally stuck in Winter for a long time.

Our lives and hearts experience seasons too. We all experience cold and bleak winters when everything appears dark and gray. We look forward to the newness and rebirth that comes with our springs. Spring is the time of hope. Summer is a time of hard work, planting seed and watching it grow in the heat of the day and relaxing in the cooler evening when our work is done. But we must feed and water our seed so it can bear the best fruit. Autumn is the time of harvest when we see the fruits of our labor pay off, only then can we start to relax. The fruits of our labor are realized. And our own personal seasons have nothing to do with the months of the year. Although Spring started officially over a month ago, I am personally coming into my spring now.

Solomon wrote beautiful words. I want to share these words that touched me this morning. From Solomon 2:10-13, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.”

There is beauty in all of God’s seasons. It is up to us to see His masterpiece. All we have to do is look. Set your heart and minds to receive the beauty of your own seasons so His abounding love can fill you with hope, love and joy.

Maryanne Winder Lester 4/27/2010