I've been thinking a lot about seasons lately. Honestly, I have always hated it when someone told that it was "just a season." Especially when it came to my babies not sleeping. It just seemed to diminish my painful sick exhaustion to mere seasonal allergies. But the word "seasons" has been coming to me in a new way lately. Fall has always been such a beautiful, yet also strangely aching time for me. There is so much beauty in the smell and feel of the air yet there is so much loss experienced as the colorful leaves slowly fall to the ground leaving bareness all around.
And my life seems to be in the midst of Fall itself. Letting go of what I have held on to for so long through the Spring and Summer of my life. Yet in the midst of the letting go, I am also learning to hope. Knowing that Winter is coming and that the bareness will soon turn to beauty once again. And isn't there some sort of odd beauty in the bareness as well? You can see a bit more, right? I am always amazed at being able to see things that I didn't see when the leaves hung on the trees: a neighbors house, the trail wrapping around the river, the sunset, the moon appearing a bit earlier through the bare branches. And in this falling away of what I have known and held on to for so long, I am slowly learning to see a bit more. More of myself. More of my family. More of God. And the seeing isn't always pleasant or easy but it only gives way to growth. And growth always leads to beauty. Always.
So, here I am on this path towards Winter and longing for Spring. Yet I will stay in the falling away with my hands open knowing that this is where I am suppose to be and that soon my hands will be filled once again. But I must keep them open and ready to hold whatever comes. For it is in the openness that I can blossom.
May wherever you are give you peace today....
The photo below is from one of my favorite places on earth, Onsite in Cumberland Furnace, TN. If you are at a place that you feel like you need to hit a reset button on life, I would strongly suggest you looking into going here for a week. It changed me and continues to change me today. I am also happy to talk with anyone about my experience there as well. Feel free to reach out.
