Seasons

It was common in California to purchase a new house with literally no landscaping or even any grass in the back yard, which was enclosed with a privacy fence that hid the incomplete part of your property.  The working theory was that people could always get around to a back yard when they had the time and money.

However, due to the fact that it often took so long to get around to the back yard, it became a sort of running joke that when your back yard was finished, it would be time to move.  The completion of that particular project, marked the end of a season and by then things had changed so much you could no longer stay due to job changes, a need for a larger house, whatever.

Some joked that they simply didn't plan on finishing the back yard so they wouldn't have to move.  I'm not sure that ever worked but I do know that when they were ready to move, they had to scramble to finish the back yard as people weren't willing to buy a previously owned house without a completed back yard.

My point in waxing nostalgic is that life itself is really made up of a series of seasons, or as it has often been phrased, "A line of beginnings and endings."  We start and we stop, then we begin again.  It is generally sad but at the same time exciting.  When your child goes off to college, you cry a little but you are so excited for what lies ahead for them.  When you retire, you grieve over the passing of youth on one had but look forward to being able to travel or spend time with family

The apostle Paul said that we "groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling...but we do not wish to be unclothed" (2 Cor 5:3-4).  In other words, we look forward to that day when we will be with the Lord in our heavenly home but we are not anxious to die, leaving everyone we know and love behind.

Nonetheless, seasons come and seasons go.  Whatever our feelings at the time, we will move from one to the other, and so, how are we to deal with the next season?  Answer: take our eyes off the change and put them on the Changer, accepting that "The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad" (Ps 118:24).  If we trust that God has our lives in his hands, we can rejoice as we look forward to each new season on our journey home.  Jus' Say'n.