Sunday Afternoon Tea

The change of seasons here are truly remarkable. On Friday, I was wearing my heavy winter coat. On Saturday, my light "rain" coat. Today (Sunday), was the first time I stepped out of the house with only a sweater draped over my church outfit...since... autumn? Of course, we'll be playing the freeze-warm game throughout April. Which is also why my state is quite prone to tornado activity... remember... breath, do not hyperventilate... and fear not. :)

There were a few things happening this week which took my ponderings to the subject of seasons. The obvious, of course, is the transition from winter to spring... the seasons of the planet. Most of my ponderings were about the seasons of our lives. I expect my own transition from full time homeschooling mom to one who is a "parent of one taking their senior year at junior college" has a lot to do with it. No more homeschool co-ops, no more field trips, no more buying homeschool magazines (although I do still peruse The Old Schoolhouse at Barnes & Noble), almost no more... schooling at home... officially that is. I am helping him with his government "class" this summer.

There are so many seasons in each life. We each have a childhood, an adolescence, those in-between years of the late teens and early twenties, the decades that follow... each season building on the other. Any wisdom I have now came from all I learned, listened to, read, absorbed, lived through... the first four decades. All faith that has built up came from trials past and lessons learned.

One can't look back and judge ourselves when looking at past seasons. What now is so obvious in the past was only a wisp of a cloud... a thin veil with a peek into the future... at the time. I can't even begin to understand the concept of Time and Space but one thing I do know... it takes a lifetime to become the person Christ wants each one of us to obtain. He knows the number of years He will give each of us. He pictures us as the person we will become and directs us in that path.

Think of the many times he changed a person's name in the History which is written in his Word. We are all like Gideon when the angel tells him "The Lord be with you, mighty warrior" and he replies that he is the weakest of his tribe and his tribe is the least in Manasseh. So often what he is requiring of us, that season in which we find ourselves entering, is one for which we feel totally no preparation.

I had no idea how to take care of an infant the day I brought my daughter home from the hospital. I didn't know how to be a good wife, or decorate a house, much less take care of another human being in the beginning. I knew a little about cooking... very little. I didn't know much about corporate life or office work when I first began. My first two or three jobs were disasters. Later, when we knew God was calling us to homeschool, I felt like Sarah... a good laugh would show God that he obviously had the wrong person. :)

Each episode was the beginning of a new season. Each season... building upon the other. He only requires us to walk one day at a time whether we are going through trials which take our breath away or we are enjoying a time of peace & prosperity... and he doesn't let us stay in a comfort zone.

I've become pretty good at being a wife, a mother, a homeschooling mom, a wanna be chef, and I've even been able to keep a few perennials alive these past few years. I was an excellent corporate employee by the time I put that season behind me. This next season... it looms before me with the same doubts and curiosity in which all past seasons were entered.

I am entering it with chronic illness and fatigue but then again... He is not requiring as much physical activity as He once did. Well, except the yard but then again... exercise and sunlight are good for one. I can no longer handle a three ring circus, nor can I keep large amounts of information in my mind as I could in my 20s and 30s. But then again... all those skills were required for a past season.

We can't stop our own season from changing anymore than we can make warm weather appear faster in this very long winter. There is only one part of "us" that keeps growing and gaining strength. The Bible says that is our "spirit man... or woman... as the case may be". At least one part of me can grow in health and strength!

So, I'm off to brew a cup of tea and rest up a bit before I make my way out into the warm weather to clear some of the small tree limbs and twigs that have blown onto the yard in the storms of winter. It won't be long before we begin to see flowers.

Another spring... new life coming up where none appeared to be just a couple of weeks ago. Gives one hope about the Resurrection when we all will receive perfect bodies. Now that is something to hope for... an eternal season of perfection.