Seasons

Fall is my favorite season. No other season compares to the beauty that fall displays. The other seasons have their advantages. The snow of winter always reminds me of God’s ability to make even the ugliest parts of us look beautiful. Spring brings fresh, bright colors that always inspire me to get outside and enjoy nature more. Summer? Well, it’s hot. But after summer comes fall. Every season has a purpose, even the ones we don’t like.

Fall stands out to me in particular because of all the seasons, this one shows a side of nature that usually stays hidden. I grew up in the deep south. When I grew up, fall meant raking leaves and gathering pecans in the fields around our house. The brown leaves covered the ground. Once collected, they made a great play area as we took turns jumping in the pile (which consequently had to be raked up again).

I thought I knew what fall looked like but boy was I wrong. I had seen the picturesque scenes of all the beautiful colors of leaves on the trees but other than browns and the occasional yellow, not much to see here. It wasn’t until I moved further north (yet still in the south at the time) that I saw fall’s true colors. In fact, I was blessed to live near the Blue Ridge Parkway at the time which offered stunning views and mountains full of colorful leaves.  It was a time of the year that I eagerly awaited, and it became a family event. Every fall, when the leaves were at their peak, we would take a drive along the parkway and enjoy the wonders of fall.

So you may wonder, why do leaves change color in the fall? I mean, it’s so beautiful, why can’t they stay that way all year long? I won’t get into all the scientific reasoning as to why this happens (just Google it), but some of those colors were there all along. The green was just hiding what was already there. Other colors come about due to changes in the leaf as the green dissipates. All of this transformations comes about because the tree is preparing for the coming winter. It’s kind of like how we put away our summer clothes and pull out the winter wardrobe about the same time. Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. It happens every year, everywhere around us.

The seasons of our lives look very similar. Some are more enjoyable than others. Sometimes we’re in a season that looks a lot like spring. We find lots of growth around us and everything is outwardly going great. Other times we find ourselves in a winter season, shrouded with darker times and less growth. Then there are the fall seasons in our lives.

At first glance, it may seem to some that this season is rife with decay and rot. As the color fades from the leaves of our lives it may appear to others that we aren’t growing as we should. But the fact of the matter is far from this. Instead of decay and decline, God is bringing out the beauty in us that has been there all along. There it was just below the surface the whole time, never to be seen as it was overshadowed by other things. Maybe it’s a career we’ve been pursuing. Maybe it’s a personal goal that’s kept our focus. Perhaps it was any number of reasons that covered up the true beauty that was within you. A beauty that can only be seen if the other things are drained away.

Just as the trees have to lose their green, we have to be drained in order for God to display the beauty that He has been forging within us. Every season has it’s purpose. It’s our job to learn to find that purpose, whatever season we find ourselves in.

Are you going through a rough season? You might find another post of mine helpful. Click here.