Fall is in the air, and a new season has begun.  Here in Southeast Texas where I live, we are elated that we have survived the heat, humidity, mosquitoes, and love bugs that accompany the long days of summer.  I passed a perfect stranger going into the grocery store the other day who paused to say:  “Isn’t this weather great!  I’m so glad summer is over!” The stranger’s statement made me think of our journey through life.  Just as Mother Nature takes us through different seasons with each one having its own distinct features,  so does life.

Take a stroll with me as I share the road I have traveled through different seasons of my life.  Perhaps you can relate.

1. Sweet 16:  My first memory of anxiously waiting for a specific season to arrive - -a time for drivers license, and the awesome privilege of driving around town on Friday night.
2. Twenty One:  College graduation, marriage, along with laundry, cooking, working 9-5, and attempts to hold onto the dating life we once enjoyed.
3. Twenty seven:  The beginning of babies and diapers, which led into school, homework, carpools, ballgames, spend-the night-parties, fun times, crying times, proms, dating, college, weddings.  Whew!
4. Grandchildren:  A time to relax and play, and not have to pay the bills.
5. Aging Parent:  Sandwiched in between children, grandchildren, and aging parents, I now have the choice of pushing a baby stroller or a walker at any given time of the day.

Yes, I have reached the age where I have passed through many seasons along my  journey of life.  Many of those seasons were filled with much joy.  However, there have been many seasons throughout my journey that were filled with heartaches, which tested my faith.  Those are the ones I wanted over and done with just as quickly as I wanted the long summer days of heat, humidity, mosquitoes, and love bugs to end.

But, as I reflect back on my journey, if there is one thing that I have learned, it is this:

Embrace each season that life finds you in and know that God works all things for good.  It is within each season that we learn and grow or remain stuck, complaining about the pests that have invaded our life.

It is our choice which road we take

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”  [Ecclesiastes 3:1]