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A Change of Season


It was 97 degrees at my house today.  Doesn't feel much like Fall is around the corner, but I know that it's coming.  Oldest son returned to college this last week.  I'm missing him quite a bit.  We had a good summer together. My daughter returned from her summer job and is getting ready to start classes next week.  I'm very glad to have her presence around again.  School started this week for my two younger ones, which meant I had to "go back to work" myself. (I'm their teacher!)  I was pretty excited at the beginning of the week, but by Wednesday I was ready for the first school break!  It was a rough week.  Somehow over the summer, it seems as if my children's brains atrophy a bit and they've forgotten what they have already learned.  We were stuck on the same math lesson all week.  Ahhh...but this too will pass.  I'm sure next week will go better. I'll be more used to oldest son being gone and daughter will have resumed her exceedingly busy life, which makes it seem as if she doesn't really live here.  My two younger ones will have adjusted better to to the school schedule and life will go on.  Yet, with each passing year, the season is a bit different.  It's not good or bad--it's just a change.

I often look forward to change.  Not always, but often.  I'm the one who will rearrange my furniture every six months, just to have something different to look at.  I like to change paint colors or decorations in my house and have often had to patch up nail holes in my walls because I didn't like where a certain picture was hanging.  I suppose in part, it's because I need an outlet for my creative mind.  My mind often seems to race with thoughts of how I could something different, from writing, to cooking, to teaching,  to how I keep my house and keep the kids motivated to do their chores.  Though I like some form of routine, I often find that too much routine stifles my creativity.  However, on the reverse side of that, I've also had times in my life when things were so unsettled that I found it hard to move through my days with ease.  How I longed for stability and ease during those times.

But that is just it.  Change is a part of life.  We are born, we grow up and into our adult lives.  The seasons come and go and life ebbs on in waves of ever shifting sands.  Summer will soon give way to Autumn and Autumn will bow to Winter.  Winter will then loosen its grip and Spring will emerge and the cycle will continue on.  And so it goes and so it will go, until glorious clouds open up and the Son beckons us to come home with him.  There is a time and season for everything that goes on in our lives.  We don't need to avoid it, nor do we need to dwell on those times for too long. To keep moving forward, while not dwelling on what is behind us for too long...lest we become a pillar of salt.

A Time for Everything

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—
A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NASB)

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