Seasons change. I taught my children about this in our homeschool this year.
As far as the literal seasons, I personally am a fan of warm weather, so late spring to early fall are my favorite seasons. I like flowers, swimming, tank tops, flip flops, and being outside. Cold weather means I'm inside more. Cold weather means coats. Cold weather means socks. Boo to all of those things!
However, whether I like it or not, winter is necessary. There must be seasons in order for the "circle of life" (thank you Lion King) to happen. We have to have that dying season, where plant life rests, for the other more beautiful seasons to happen. And sometimes in the winter, if we get lucky, we get brief glimpses of beauty.
Well, so it is in the metaphorical seasons of our lives. At least, that's what I'm learning.
You see, I prefer the warm, pretty season where I get to be comfortable. This is the season where my life isn't so difficult. It's the season when I am still working, but life is not one thing after another. I get to enjoy!
However, I seem to have been in an extended "winter" season for the past few months. Nothing has gone the way it was supposed to. Nothing has been easy. Actually, everything has gone very, very wrong. I do not want to just whine while I blog, so I'll make it short and simple. In the past 8 months, everything from Eli's ASD to our finances, my birth, breastfeeding, my mental and emotional health, Easton's health... all of it has gone terribly wrong.
And it's not enough that it's all been so crappy, but on top of everthing in my personal life being like this, a handful of people around me have all found it necessary to critique everything I say and do. I NEVER post frustrations or vent on Facebook. However, I do have an incredibly supportive group of friends on there who NO MATTER WHAT, will always be on my side, encouraging me. So I've vented a few times, gaining the encouraging words I truly needed... but always after that SOMEONE has to give their opinion. As usual, I have to take the high road & either respond gracefully or not respond at all.
I often wonder if my spring time will ever come. I'm ready for a new season. For example, I'm ready to say goodbye to complications with medical bills & insurance that never would have happened if it weren't for all these health issues that never would have happened if it weren't for other things that never would have happened if... do you see how this works? I so often write and teach on the "snowball effect" of interventions in labor & childbirth. Well, it's certainly still winter & the snowballs are rolling.
But now I'm gonna pull out the Bible. There is a scripture in Ecclesiastes 3:1 that says
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."
My mom always reminds me that just because something is hard, doesn't mean it's bad. It's just hard.
So, here we are... going through a season...
A season of hard stuff.
A season of disappointment.
A season of lost hopes.
A season of critics.
A season of learning experiences.
A season of growth.
Because after the winter... the spring comes. I'm holding out for the metaphorical spring and praying it comes before the literal one, considering it's just now November.
