Seasons

The afternoons are still warm enough to break a sweat here in Arkansas but the mornings are cool enough to enjoy a hot cup of coffee on the patio with a blanket thrown over your shoulders. For now early morning comes with a heavy dew on the grass, soon it will be a white layer of frost. The season is changing (for my friends in California, you can Google what dew and frost are).

Seasonal changes are not limited to the weather. Life itself is a passing of seasons as we mive from the spring of youth on through the winter of elder years when hair, white like the snow covers our heads (again California friends please see Google for snow).

Change, like it or not, is constantly on the horizon. We can deny its approach, we can stick our heads in the sand or add color to our cover or greying heads, but change is coming, it never stops. The Bible is very clear on this subject: "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot" (Eccl 3:1-2).

The seasons of life are not to be resisted or denied but embraced as a natural and necessary part of life. Could you imagine a life w in which you did not go through seasons?  What if your baby never did grow up?  What if that child never learned to walk or talk?  What if your child never experienced a family of his/her own?

What if you had been stuck in puberty, hostage to raging hormones and agonizing with acne all your days?  What if you were raising children all your life and hitting the 9 to 5 grind until noon on the day you are buried?  What if you grew very old and very sickly but never died?  While change can be scary, staying the same can be terrifying.

On the other hand, being able to depend on some things is absolutely essential. Having a retirement plan that will live as long as you do is really important. Being able to rely on your adult kids when you reach your elder years warms the heart. Knowing your spouse will still be at your side when time has passed you by is critical.

But the most important thing to know in an ever changing world is that God who loves us so never changes: "In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end." (Heb 1:10-12).

While change happens all around us, some to the good and some to the bad, God remains present. As always and forever, He has the whole world in his hands. Regardless of the change you are going through, God "will not leave you as orphaned" (Jn 14:18). Regardless of the losses you suffer, in Christ you will ultimately gain. Oh, and whoever is elected president, Christ will still be King. So relax and trust in Him, not in him or her. Jus' Say'n.