BUT. Fall leads to winter. My least favorite season. Once you get past Christmas and New Year's, it's just cold. Things are only pretty if there's snow. And snow is fun... for a while. It's hard to run in snow (though Jennie and I have done it). Running on a treadmill just isn't the same. And even if there isn't snow you have to bundle up to run and bear with either being really cold until you warm up or really hot once you warm up. And, yes, I know you get hot once you warm up other parts of the year, too, but I would much rather be hot because it's hot outside than hot because I have too many clothes on and then have to deal with sweaty winter clothes clinging to me. And then the chill between cooling down and jumping in a hot shower! It gets dark early and the sun rises late. Noses are runny. No outdoor batting practice or you'll break your bat. Fake tans look exceptionally orange (not that I've ever had this problem). People coughing in the library. These are just a few of my least favorite things...
This year all of this looks different. Fall is... too cold. I'm already in a scarf and hat. I'm not in Virginia (at least when I was in China I missed fall because it stayed warm and the leaves didn't change). The scattering of trees in London doesn't cut it. People don't eat pumpkin. I don't have a hockey team. I can't watch the sports games I want and have yet to see candy corn. Oh and I'm sick... three weeks of being sick. Some sort of sore throat/head cold virus and now the flu? I feel like I skipped fall and plunged into winter. Can someone say take me home country roads? Yes, I said country roads. I've decided I'm not truly a city person. My suburban nature likes to retreat away from the city center and find more space.
All that being said, I just want to make it clear that I don't hate it here. There are good things here, too. I just don't feel like it's where I want to set up permanent residence. Which is okay since I'm not committed to that. And maybe right now it has something to do with being sick and having to figure out new systems. We'll see.
Anyway, the reason I got on that topic is because of seasons. Life's seasons. Life has so many more than just four seasons. And they don't always come in a predictable order, for a predictable time, or in a predictable cycle. Sometimes we're in one season much more than others. And sometimes we repeat seasons much more than others. And not everybody is in the same season. If you think about it though, nature's seasons can also demonstrate some of those qualities. The closer you are to the poles, the more winter you have. The closer you are to the Equator, the more summer. The mid-latitudes have the most variety, and winter here is summer in South Africa. Every season is going on somewhere, someplace, all at the same time. The predictability question is more related to the weather within a season. It's sometimes like school kids getting mad at the Weather Channel for predicting snow that didn't come. And to take it further, 'summer,' or any season, never looks exactly the same as you remember. It may be hotter, cooler, drier, wetter, more humid, less stormy, etc. than the ones that came before. Therefore, one could say that nature's seasons are relative to a particular time and place. Life's seasons, however, are relative to a particular time, place, and person. I think we all know that we can be experiencing a completely different season of life than the person sitting right next to us.
So what is the constant? Well for nature's seasons you could say nature's laws. We know we don't have to worry about black ice on a steamy summer morning or winter following spring. But what about life's seasons? All the crazy seasons of joy, harvest, growth, sorrow, loneliness, contentment, preparation, dryness, learning, waiting, mourning, celebration, illness, victory, discerning, discovery, providing, going, staying, listening, teaching, participating, watching, excitement, boredom, trusting, relaxation, working, and all the other ones you can think of!
The book of Ecclesiastes talks about seasons of life:
"For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace."
-3:1-8
It's my favorite book in the Bible, one of the reasons is probably because the author seeks answers to questions we all all ask. As we're taken through the author's quest for wisdom, meaning, and purpose in life, we begin to despair as the author repeatedly says, "I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless - like chasing the wind" (1:14). "I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly. But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind" (1:17).
He speaks of the futility of pleasure and work: "Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless - like chasing the wind" (2:10-11).
And the injustices of life, "for the wise and the foolish both die" (2:16), to the point of declaring, "So I concluded that the dead are better off than the living. But most fortunate of all are those who are not yet born. For they have not seen all the evil that is done under the sun" (4:2-3).
As well as the futility of wealth: "Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness... We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can't take our riches with us" (5:10, 15).
So why do I love this book? Because of the conclusions that transcend all seasons and walks of life.
"To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life - this is indeed a gift from God.
God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past."
-5:19-20
"Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don't have.
Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless - like chasing the wind."
-6:9
"Accept the way God does things,
for who can straighten what he has made crooked?"
-7:13
"Whatever you do, do well."
-9:10
And finally:
"When people live to be very old, let them rejoice in every day of life.
But let them also remember there will be many dark days. Everything still to come is meaningless.
Young people, it's wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it.
Do everything you want to do; take it all in.
But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do.
So refuse to worry, and keep your body healthy.
But remember that youth, with a whole life before you, is menaingless.
Don't let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator.
Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, 'Life is not pleasant anymore.'
Remember him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes,
and rain clouds continually darken your sky...
Remember him before the door to life's opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades...
Remember him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets...
Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young...
The words of the wise are like cattle prods - painful but helpful.
Their collected sayings are like a nail-studded stick with which a shepherd drives the sheep.
Their collected sayings are like a nail-studded stick with which a shepherd drives the sheep.
But my child, let me give you some further advice:
Be careful, for writing books is endless, and much study wears you out.
That's the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion:
Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone's duty.
God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad."
-11:9-10, 12:1-2, 4-6, 11-14
"Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time.
He has planted eternity in the human heart..."
-Ecclesiastes 3:11
"For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus,
so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."
-Ephesians 2:10
"Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth,
and no one will even think about the old ones anymore."
-Isaiah 65:17
No comments:
Post a Comment