Seasons

The seasons have been on my mind recently. On the surface, one could attribute this to our physical location; out here on The Ridge, as I’ve taken to calling our house (fitting in more than one way, since our street is also called Ridge), surrounded by countryside and trees and greenery, perhaps we notice the changing of the seasons more strongly than we did in our other more urban locales. It’s a plausible explanation for sure, but I don’t think it’s the sole, or even the major, driving force. Perhaps it’s the speed at which life seems to occur these days. I’ve heard a theory that as each unit of time – season, year, month, etc; whatever’s in consideration – becomes a smaller percentage of one’s life, that same unit appears to pass more quickly. Add in the seemingly exponential growth of children, and time really does appear to have grown wings. Regardless of the reason, that’s what I’ve been mulling over recently, and the single most frequent phrase has been “Hold them loosely”. Here’s what I mean by that:

The most predictable seasons are those caused by the Earth’s rotation. At roughly the 40th parallel north, where I am, we have 4 seasons of approximately the same length throughout the year. Even these, we must hold loosely, because they don’t linger. Whether you love it or hate it, wait 3 months and we’ll have moved on to something different, no matter how hard we cling. Hold it loosely, for “this too shall pass”. Easy enough for one to say when it comes to 90* summer days or winter snowstorms. It’s a bit harder to say, and even to call to mind, when it’s less predictable – a hard season at work, in marriage, in parenting, in friendship.

To some extent, seasons in most aspects of life are expected. We anticipate life cycles of sorts, and know that middle school and high school, for example, don’t last forever; that the entry-level job isn’t the same position one will hold in 10, or even 5, years; that infants will eventually grow and toilet themselves. Whether you loved high school or hated it, whether you prefer infants or elementary students, hold the season loosely. It will end.

There are a couple areas that I didn’t anticipate would be marked by seasons, although that’s more than likely a failure on my part to adequately consider it. One of those is my reading life. I’ve seen that fluctuate even over the last 4-ish years that I’ve maintained a thorough reading log, and I know that those are widely varied still from the 25 years of which I have no records. I’m reminding myself that though this may be a season in which I have the time and energy to devote to broad categories of reading, that likely won’t be the case forever, and I’ll need to both reduce the time and narrow the focus for a time.

The other area is my spiritual life. Again, I should have known and anticipated that a life spent with the Lord would be marked by periods of desperation, drought, delight, and yet that took me by surprise. This too I need to hold loosely: whether currently in drought or delight, it will end, and yet the Lord remains faithful. He who causes winter to yield to spring year after year will sustain us through each season to the next. 

“Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but You are the same, and Your years have no end.” (Psalm 102:25-27)