CHANGING SEASONS

As I look out the window, things are changing.  The leaves now look a dusty green.  Some leaves are beginning to turn various shades of red and orange.  It is dark when I wake up.  (Hate that!)  But, at least it is dark when I go to bed.  I do believe fall is fast approaching.

The posts on Facebook range from “Yes, fall is almost here!” to “Oh no.  Summer is almost over.”  I am sure our daughter is saying, “Winter will soon be here.”  Funny how we have a favorite season.  A favorite holiday.  A favorite sport and team.  A favorite …..

Now, I am not sure how this went from changing seasons to favorites, but that is the way my mind works sometimes.  (I heard a few snickers out there about how my mind works.)  We do have favorites and it is a good thing.  Think about it.  How boring would life be if we were all alike?  Wow – I would have no one to argue with.  Everyone would think just like me.

What if we all liked the same color?  Boring!  Besides, the fashion industry would be in big trouble.  What if there was only one genre of books?  I would hate not being able to read a mystery and then a romance.  What if we could all sing on key?  There would be a really big choir with no one listening. 

What if we never changed?  Oh?  Back to change now?

God did not create this world to be the same, day in and day out.  He created this world with change built in.  Now that is planning ahead!  He created us to change also.  We are not to stay children.  We are to grow and learn.  Our lives have seasons.  The Bible tells us this in Ecclesiastics:

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

Spring.  Fall.  Winter.  Summer.       Seasons.  Change.  Change.  Change.

Birth.  Death.  Planting.  Harvest.  Weeping.  Laughing.  Keeping.  Throwing away.  War.  Peace.       Seasons.  Change.  Change.  Change.

Part of the problem is we do not like things to change.  Let it stay fall.  Only the old hymns.  I do not want to get old.  My children are leaving home. 

Part of the problem is we fear change.  What will I do in the winter?  But that song was written last year.  What will happen next to my body?  I cannot know what my children are doing.

All around you, there is change.  Never fear.  Not everything changes. 

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.  Hebrews 13:8

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”  Revelation 1:8

As I look at my life, things are changing.  But with an unchanging God as my guide, I can handle it.