Today I'm linking up to Lisa-Jo aka gypsy mama, who chooses a topic every Friday and writes for five minutes.
Only five minutes.
And the rule is that whatever she writes about in that five minutes is what she posts. No editing her thoughts.
Today, her topic choice is "When seasons change…"
So I'm going to set the timer, write some thoughts, and then I'm going to stop.
Ready? Set. Go.
::
I was just talking to a friend of mine this week about how the season change has been weird here in Iowa this year. None of us feel like summer is almost upon us… it's as if spring is just beginning to peek her head out from under the snow. My friends' kids aren't even counting down the last days of school – which is completely unheard of. But when the weather still feels like the end of March, it's hard to remember where we're at on the rotating calendar and that summer is fast approaching.
I think we rely on the familiar to gauge where we are in life. We rely on the same 2+2=4 mentality, and it throws us off when things don't add up like we're used to.
The weather not being the same, our schedules not following a normal pattern, health changing, losing loved ones, having kids, watching them graduate… these are all things that I have been through or watched loved ones go through this year.
And all of them have thrown us off. All of them have felt like moments not adding up. All of them have thrust us into seasons we may not have been ready for.
But the truth is, these moments have simply thrust us into another new normal to add to the constant new normals in our lives. And we have to be thrust into them because we so often long for sameness, and change would not always be our first option.
But weather changes and we learn to appreciate the blossoms and the warmth. Schedules alter and we learn to adapt and see beauty where we may have missed it if we hadn't altered course. Health declines and we adapt and find blessings in the most unexpected circumstances. Loved ones die and we find that mourning aches us to our core, but we learn to trust in God in a way we never knew possible. Babies are born and we learn to celebrate more than we fear, and as kids graduate we learn to let go and trust more than we worry.
The seasons will always change, sometimes at a different pace than we are expecting. But the joy and blessings are always within reach if we just put out our hands to receive them.
So remember to give thanks.
Even when the seasons change.