Hello
from a beautiful Fall day in St. Louis!
I
have been in “puppy love” with Fall here. It has always been my favorite season
but I’ve never experienced it so fully as I have here in our first year in St.
Louis. The trees are beautiful. So many times I have pulled over to take a
picture. I often just swipe through my photos looking at the gallery of trees I’ve
captured. The crisp cool breezes are romantic and invigorating. We are
surrounded by beauty- we need not look too hard to find it. We are captivated
by the colors we see at only this time of year. How many shades of golden? Orange?
I had never seen these shades.
One
reason I was excited to move here was to experience true seasons. Recognizing that Winter would be difficult I knew
the other seasons would be so much more appreciated and anticipated. In
California, it’s hard to complain about year-round sunshine, but for me, it was
not healthy. I needed the sights, sounds, feelings, and social experiences of
all four seasons. Seasons are a physical tangible reminder of the cycles and
seasons of life. Walking outdoors or through the park can be as good a sermon
as Sunday morning.
Just look at these pictures:
I
love Fall most but I feel like when we are in a “Fall” in our lives, we know to
cherish it. We know it can change any time. We recognize that we are living in
the “good days,” and odds are that they can only last so long before we are
faced with a challenge. Slowly we see the signs that the year (of our lives) is
changing. Fall teases me with the hardest of seasons for me – Winter. The beloved
leaves are falling from the trees in greater numbers. You can now see the bare
branches instead of the full kaleidoscope of red, orange, brown and golden
leaves. The air is more biting in the mornings and evenings. Ice begins to form
early in the mornings providing us with warnings. There's a sense of preparedness. One day, we wake up and ask, “Where
did it go?” although we know the answer already. we hope that we had
acknowledged the subtleties and seized the opportunities before the next season
comes.
Winter
often too closely follows Fall. It will come, there's no doubt. Winter is when we bunker up. We store up and we
bustle less. We cling to each other to keep warm. We spend more time at home. We
look for comfort. Flavors become warm and spicy. There’s a feeling of
heaviness. The world outside can be bitter and harsh. There can be scarcity. There’s death. Maybe we barely get by. We question if we will survive this season. We have to reorient to what is important. We have to
look more closely and longer to find beauty. We have to look for a “different”
kind of beauty in this season. We don’t like it but it’s necessary, necessary
for life and regrowth.
I
need not go into detail as it is not my story, but Winter hit our family. I had
been basking in my Fall (literally and spiritually). But, I knew. I felt Winter
whispering. I felt tinges of cold blow through my soul. And then it came. So,
just like the season, the family has bunkered up. We’ve stored up plans, love, and
swords of scripture. We cling to togetherness, the essentials, and the bottom
line. It’s harsh and bitter, but we know that as the seasons have beautifully
taught us, Spring will come. On the
other side of Winter is newness, vibrancy, life, growth. We will be renewed and
refreshed, and we will never be the same as we were. As hard as it can be and will be, we take hope in Spring because
we know that it is around the corner.
John
Steinbeck said, "What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of
winter to give it sweetness.”
Each
season has so much to teach us, if we will watch.
So,
loves, enjoy the season that you are in if you are in a sweet one. If you find
yourself in Winter, hold on. Though it may not feel soon enough, Spring will
come.
Love,
Danielle
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under
the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time
to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a
time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time
to dance;
A time to cast away stones,
and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain
from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to
cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a
time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
He hath made everything beautiful in his time: also he hath set
the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh
from the beginning to the end.
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8, 11 (King James
Version)
