The Changing Seasons

Welcome to a new week and a new month! I am hoping that with the beginning of this new month will also come the beginning of the end of summertime for another year. I find so much enjoyment in the changing of the seasons...and I love each season in a different way. Fall has always been my favorite, when the days get shorter, the air gets crisp and chilly, and the leaves change into vibrant colors against the backdrop of a perfect blue sky. I love going to bonfires on cool evenings and visiting the local apple orchards to buy fresh apple cider and apple donuts. Mostly, though, I love looking forward to the holidays and wintertime, with the fresh blanket of snow that covers the dead grass and gives character to the dormant trees. I love when every time there is a fresh snowfall, the sun comes out afterward and shines on the new frozen world, reflecting off of the individual flakes like millions of tiny diamonds and creating a brilliant brightness. Eventually, though, it has to melt and give way to the lush greenery of springtime, with the early crocuses and daffodils creating cheer in an otherwise cloudy and blustery world. Then come the rest of the springtime visitors, like bees and fireflies, as well as the leaves on the trees beginning to open and hyacinths and lilies blooming for Easter. Then, in a blink, it is hot out again, and the trees are full of leaves, their heavy limbs creaking and groaning in the winds of a mid-summer thunderstorm, while the flowers continue to provide us with happiness of sunflowers and Gerbera daisies, and then I realize that another year has passed.

As the seasons and years pass and I get older, it seems that life becomes more complicated and difficult. There are days when the full weight of the pressures of life are pressing down on me, and life seems quite unfair. But who ever said life is fair? Long before I was a Christian, I thought I had a plan for my life, and that I was in control of how my life turned out. Silly me! Isn't it funny how rarely our plans align with God's? We all have a reason for being here; we each have a path to travel. . Sometimes I find myself comparing my path to someone else's, and I've come to realize that this is a dangerous road. It's easy to find myself questioning God's reasons for whatever difficult circumstances I might find myself in, but then I realize that what I'm really questioning is God's wisdom. As if I could possibly know more with my relatively few years of wisdom than Him! I guess it’s just one of the many things that I struggle with. But thankfully, God has put many wonderful people along my path to try and keep me going the way I need to go. My husband is one of those people. He straightens me out when I wander off-course. I have great family and friends who are always willing to help, too! I am truly blessed to know the people I know during this lifetime.

How do you handle uncertainty and disappointments? Feel free to comment at the end of this post.

I always enjoy reading the book of Ruth. It's a wonderful story about devotion and loyalty when things seemed their worst for these women. I can relate to the deep devotion Ruth has for someone she loves, and her loyalty is revealed in my favorite passage in the book, Ruth 1:16: "But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God."