After months of waiting for scarf season and the promise of all things pumpkin and cinnamon, temperatures have finally begun to creep lower. Leaves are changing from greens to hues of red and maroon, bright yellow and orange.
The changing of the seasons has begun.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
The crisp weather allows for afternoon walks in the park with good friends while sipping a warm pumpkin spice latte. Everything is a little big magical, from the laughter of children to the delicious smell of coffee shops. With Thanksgiving and Christmas approaching, it’s as if all of humanity has silently agreed to step back, pause, and remember the little joys in life – even just for a moment.
But the leaves will fall.
They will crinkle up and float down, only to be crunched before receiving a layer of snow.
The pieces of fall that we all happily await will disappear again as winter slides in. What was so beautiful and vibrant will die as a new season arrives, bringing with it a soft, cool stillness.
It’s easy to dismiss winter, to hold onto fall as long as possible. Creation feels alive in fall but the quiet of winter can be a bit unsettling, lonely even.
I do this in my own life, too. I fall in love with a season of my life that’s full of beautiful moments, laughter and smiles. Friendships are strengthened, new relationships are formed, and I can see God redeeming broken pieces from the past.
In these seasons of learning who God is and who God made me to be, I can barely contain the joy that comes from counting the gifts He has placed in front of me. There are things that aren’t perfect of course – but overall, everything is good.
Yet winter is coming.
We don’t always know when or how, but we are promised that there will be valleys, moments when we feel tired and parched, weary and ready for the next season to hurry up and arrive. We forget that winter brings its own gifts: hot chocolate and snowball fights, red cheeks and frozen fingers from caroling house to house.
He is never absent in winter. Things may feel dry and empty, but be refreshed… Winter is a time of working, for right after winter comes spring – new life!
Sometimes it seems like the season will never end.
I know. I’ve been there. I’ve spent years in a long, lonely season of winter, longingly waiting for any sign that spring might be coming. There didn’t seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel, and I had all but resigned myself to living in a perpetual state of winter.
It’s funny, though, because it was during this season that God was ever near my side. In the valley of winter He strengthened me by providing Himself – He covered all my needs, even when I couldn’t see through the fog to the next day.
No matter the season, even when our knees are bruised from hitting the floor in prayer time and again, we can trust and worship the One who created it to be in the first place. {click to tweet}
Because it’s not really about the season – it’s about the One who is always in control.
So no matter what season you find yourself in right now, whether you’re planted firmly in fall, in the dead of winter, or somewhere in between, know that there is a time for everything. You are never alone, no matter how cold or lonely it may seem.
Spring always comes.
Always.
