Tag Archives: seasons of change

The Beauty of Seasons of Change: Life Lessons

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Oh friends! It has been a whirlwind of a few weeks, and I am still not over it. Usually, I am a sucker for back to school week and do all the prep, cleaning, anticipating etc. etc. They say that September is the new January, and I am here for it… except I am not. Our kiddos are getting older, and only the youngest is left in her last year at high school. We bought 99 cent pencils and a couple of packs of post it notes. Oh – and a new pair of shoes. Not that she needed new shoes, but she got a new pair anyway. No more double pairs for indoor/outdoor shoes, no school lunch prep, no fancy backpack. I don’t think we even got up on the first day to see her off on the bus. We’re bad parents. We didn’t even do the back to the college dorm pics that all our peers are posting with their older teens. Our college kid is back, but doesn’t share much… so there’s that. I promise to send him with snacks. No real food or fancy twinkly lights, maybe clean bedding and a towel and soap. Ugh! What have I become, so far from the old days.

So unprepared for back to school this year. Oh well.

In fact, we pulled them out on the first week of school to go on a family holiday. Which was great! A tradition we started a few years ago to get away and re-connect as an extended family (which is growing considerably now). We hung out and stayed up way too late. Despite the very nice weekend, we came home to a devastating loss… three (yes, three!) of my beloved chickens were gone. We are assuming a coyote pack. No signs, no evidence, just three missing bodies. That means we only have three girls left. The dog was with us, which I think was a bad thing, because he is likely a slight deterrent to whatever predators are out there. Three! So sad. Still, this is the risk of free ranging, and I am thankful my sitter is a farm girl, and handled it beautifully. I’m sorry it happened on her watch. Sigh. I spent the rest of the week after returning home researching fencing for pygmy goats. It was therapeutic.

Then there is the house… it’s a mess. I suppose it always is after you go away. I have so many big plans. So little motivation. Not even that…. I have motivation, but I don’t know, time just gets away when you are scrolling Facebook Poultry Groups and goat breeders near me. Don’t tell the hubby… but maybe I am regretting the move to the country…. WAIT. No, I am not. I love it here. The neighbouring farmers are starting to harvest again, the dust is flowing, the days are getting cooler, farm fairs are starting to crop up, apples, pumpkin spice, sunflowers and sunsets on the lake. No, I love it here, it’s just a season I am going through.

A.I generated: I asked it to include PSL… in the headless sweater?! LOL. These are the days we are in, people. A Season of A.I. generated mysteries…. Jesus, take the Wheel!

Why do people say that? Enjoy the season you are in? I get that it’s a God thing too… He designed it for us: to ebb and flow as the seasons of the year do. I had a conversation with God about it the other night. I asked Him to give me something. Some hint about the direction for the next little while. He reminded me to draw close to Him. A time for everything. I’ve talked about it before. I’m just reminding myself to embrace it again. To embrace the changes. To anticipate something new and different. Maybe I need to dye my hair again. I’ve been thinking about getting older lately. Friends and family are retiring… or dying. Harsh as it seems, winter approaches quickly and you must go through that season… until spring and new life starts again. Poetic? Not really. Just reality.

However, I do not want this post to be a downer… I need it to be as much of an encouragement for you as it is for me. This season is lovely. Rosie, in fact. Comfort. Warmth. The storage of a good harvest to make it through the Winter cold. Preparation, perhaps. I need to get back to that one. Alright friends, let’s do this! Let’s put on our woolly sweaters, our Pumpkin spice in hand and smell the sunflowers (which don’t smell really, but you get the picture)! Let the dust of the harvest fly once again, my friends!

And if that self talk wasn’t good enough for you, here’s a few other links to motivate us both:

5 Ways to Pray for your Kids in the Back to School Season

Walking Through the Seasons of Life

Study Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

If I could Save Time in a Bottle

Seasons of Change

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Perhaps there isn’t enough snow on the ground to be discussing changes in season. Perhaps I’ve jumped the gun in talking about something that hasn’t yet happened. Especially since the weather was so warm today. Still, for some reason, this is what’s been on my mind. And I’d like to think that what I share here is beyond me and serves its purpose on a bigger scale, so I am going with it. Perhaps it’s a mood swing and I’m just self-talking at this point… dragging you all down with me. Maybe it’s the surroundings. The walls are closing in. There is a tree just outside my front window that is totally void of leaves already. A blank canvas preparing for a dark winter. Last week we chatted about the harvest and the busyness of that time… and the joys that went along with reaping. And then comes winter. In Canada, we are blessed (or cursed?) to enjoy four, very distinct seasons. We understand (and are often teased about) our endless winters. Still, how can one appreciate the warmth of summer if you haven’t felt the bitter cold of winter?

Photo by Simon Berger on Pexels.com

I’m sure many of you have heard of this thing called SAD that people often suffer from during the onslaught of winter. SAD or “Seasonal Affective Disorder” causes about 14% of the general population to feel slightly depressed, isolated, fatigued during a seasonal change. The symptoms can be more serious, but most of us feel those “winter blues” when we are tucked up inside. I suspect with COVID the feelings of isolation and fatigue have been compounded in recent months. I’ve felt it too. Sadness (and I’m talking about the emotion here) is a God-given feeling. We don’t want to think of it that way — I mean, why would God want us to feel sad? And yet, Jesus himself wept for others, felt lonely and discouraged. It’s like experiencing the summer without the winter again. We must go through the seasons of life to truly appreciate “the other side”. Do you agree with me, here? Or maybe it’s just me and the mood I’ve been in this weekend. Maybe ya’ll are experiencing a joyous season right now and you are regretting diving into this post. Sorry if I’ve brought you down.

Are you ready to face it? Photo by kristen leigh on Unsplash

Okay, maybe I’m not sorry for leading you down this lonely path. The Bible talks a lot about seasons. Metaphors for not only in sharing the gospel but for spiritual growth. I’m sure many of you will quote Ecclesiastes back to me at this juncture in our discussion… for there is a “time for everything” and a “time for every season under the sun”. And you would be right. You know I love a good learning curve in this journey of life… and I truly think God gives us one every now and then to keep us moving forward. Growth only happens when seasons change. The “dead” of winter is the waiting period where everything slows down before the big growth spurt of spring. That tree outside my window seems bleak right now, but it’s working on the energy it will need to burst forth with blossoms come April. I’ve been around the moon enough to know this. You have to.

I heard a quote that made me think a bit. I don’t know who said it, but it’s pretty deep:

“Sometimes God doesn’t change your situation because He’s trying to change your heart.”

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Part of me doesn’t like it. I’m stubborn and don’t want to have my heart changed. I don’t like to think about what could be. Unless it’s good for me. Or easy for me. But. Seasons change. Winter will soon be here and there is not much I can do about it but drag out the heavy boots and coats and embrace the wind. Face the ice and snow head-on and dream of warmer days to come. Will you join me and strap on the winter tires as we trek down the road together? Until next week, my friends!

Seasons of Change

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As many of you know, our little urban garden is up and running again. Thanks to lockdown and Covid-19, we were ahead of our game and started seeds indoors this year. As always, there are learning curves with such things and we’ve had various degrees of success. Traditionally, the long weekend in May is a fairly “safe” time to transition seedlings to outside. So, last week we did just that… off our little seed babies went into the ground with high hopes of bountiful growth. And then it snowed.

Frost damage on Corn crop (photo from agriculture.com)

I see my neighbour (who has a beautiful garden) promptly shielded her tomatoes with warming pots. A seasoned farmer I follow on Instagram threw tarps over her raised beds in a last ditched effort to protect her asparagus that finally will be big enough to harvest after waiting for three long years. We did not. Our second attempt at scraggly corn shoots look very shriveled. The others may survive with a little prayer and a lot of hope.

“Farming” is a risky business. I recently searched out what our “growing zone” is, as this seems to be a fact I should know. The website starts out with “…To determine zone number, Canada uses a formula that consists of 7 climate variables. Canada’s hardiness map is divided into 9 zones…” and continues on for about 9 paragraphs and ends with “…website includes several links intended to clarify the hardiness zones, but which seem instead to be very complicated and confusing.” 1 Ya think?? Hats off to the men and women who make their livelihood on the whims of the weather and their wage on the likelihood of storms and forest fires. They say that in Canada, we can have all four seasons in one week… and it is true. Weather is unpredictable. Life is unpredictable too.

Which had me musing about the seasons of life this week. Psychology tells us there are “stages” we go through in our average life span — seasons of growth and development, seasons of change. Many of you have eluded to these in your comments as we muse along together. That’s the beauty of exploring and sharing our faith journeys, too… we encourage each other as we go. The scriptures are scattered with references, not only to the physical four seasons we see throughout the year, but also in our “spiritual seasons” as well. God reminds us through nature how our world is in constant change… and He designed it that way.

I often question: why? Why did He design it that way? Why do things have to change? Why do we have to grown old? Why has He allowed the corona virus to infect the world at this moment? Why did He choose to come to earth at the moment He did? What will the future hold for us? Seasons of bitter cold, and seasons of preparation, growth and warmth. Each season holds something to offer, but none of them are ever perfect. Weeds grow just as rapidly in summer as the sunflowers do. Yet, the constant through it all is God alone. James 1:17 tells us there is no variation or shadow of change in the Father. We can take courage in this thought. Even in the midst of life’s seasonal changes.

My zinnias (a first time plant for me!) have sprouted cute little dichotomous leaves all tucked up in a row. I’m not sure how the frost will affect them. I’m also not sure what life will hold for us in the next year, or the next month, or even this week ahead… but we move forward through the season, and grow and adapt just as God designed it to be. As will you. Blessings fellow seedlings!

  1. (2020, https://www.torontomastergardeners.ca/askagardener/plant-hardiness-zones/)