Finding meaning in every season

Hey, it's October! Let's talk seasons.

What I love about the word 'seasons' is, it makes it feel like there's an end to a time I'm walking through.

ALL seasons have an end.

In the Spring...

We enjoy the warming temps, rapid growth, and budding leaves and flowers. (But maybe you don't look forward to the storms it also brings...or the allergies.)

Then Spring ends, and we're in Summer.

Summer brings beautiful warm days and baseball. (But later we have to fight to keep everything alive because it's HOT and everything's being baked.)

Then Summer ends and we go into Fall.

We're so excited about the cooling temps, changing leaf colors, and apple picking. (But later, the leaves brown and fall off the trees. Everything feels barren, like a period of loss.)

Then Fall ends, and we move into Winter.

It's cold and icy and it's culling all the extra bugs (one of my favorite things about winter 😂). And we get those beautiful snow days where we cozy up, or your kids bundle up and go out to play.

The trees may have lost their leaves and fruit, but their dormant state is actually protecting them so they can flourish once again in the next season.

Can you see where I'm going with this?

When looking at our lives, sometimes it's easy to miss that seasons can be good and bad for different reasons.

(⬇️ Btw, you can ​watch​ instead of reading, or read on below. ⬇️)

We might be in the middle of a stormy season, where it's hard to see it's going to clear up.

(It can also be hard to see what our steps need to be for moving through that season.)

Other times, we're in seasons of rain and growth, where we're being replenished and budding something new.

And then sometimes, it's just really hot and difficult. We're spent and just want some relief.

So in all those seasons, one of the things we get to do is be mindful of how we look at them.

Is it a stormy season? (Where we're protected and staying inside with our people that we care about, going through hard things but doing it together.)

Or is it a sunny season? (Where we're able to go out and enjoy the vitamin D that was designed for us so beautifully?)

What kind of season are you in right now?

When I'm in the fullness of a season, sometimes I get a one-track mind, and think about the season in just one way.

What I need to remind myself (or have other people remind me, which is why I do life with y'all!) is that...

In a cold, hard season, things will fall away from your life that will help strengthen you to get through to the next season.

And in the next season, you'll move into springtime...the season of growth, nourishment, and new exciting things.

Even though there is some element of pain in all the seasons, there is also goodness.

So no matter what season you're in right now...

• Are you looking at the hard part of the season?
• Or are you looking at the joy part of the season?
• And are you appreciating the joy part as mindfully as you can?

We get to choose. So make sure you don't miss both sides.

And recognize that others going through a similar season as you, might see things differently.

Also, remember that...seasons always end.

So if you're in a season that's been hard or going on for a really long time...don't lose heart.

That season will end. And you'll go into a new season.

So what can you look forward to?

And what can you pick up and take along from your current/past season to steward your new season?

Have a blessed season!

Dawn