We Long for Spring – Thoughts on the Seasons of Life

I’ve been a Michigander my whole life. Born and bred, for all these years it’s been a primary character in my story. For those of you who are new to Michigan or never been to Michigan one of things you should know is it’s a land of seasons.  We get all 4 of them in full force.

Our summers are magical and they remind us why it’s so special to live here. Our autumns are storybook representations of coziness, crispness and fun. Our winters can simultaneously be dreamlike and bitter cold. Our winters are long but we all know what lies on the other side of that cold bitter chasm of March and early April…….Spring. Most Michiganders get that itch around this time. We’ve endured more months than we’d wish for of cold bitter temperatures, navigating difficult snowy slick roads, ice storms, shoveling and snow blowing during early mornings and late evenings. Usually by this time we’ve frankly had enough. We long for all the things that Spring brings – the sound of birds returning home to trees with new fresh buds on their branches. The warmth of spring day and even the refreshment of a warm spring rain. The sounds of kids playing outside, even the sounds of lawn mowers mowing newly lush grass as things come back to life from a long cold winter.

Sometimes life can feel the same. There are moments or seasons of summer when life feels fun and fully alive and thriving. There are moments or seasons of autumn when we harvest and take time to enjoy the fruits of our labor, while also preparing for potential hard times that may come. There or moments or seasons of winter. When life feels cold and difficult and we feel like we’re sowing so much more than we’re reaping. It’s in these cold dark moments that we sometimes feel like we don’t have what it takes to keep going, to keep pushing, to keep thriving. These moments, while filled with uncertainty can also be filled with promise. Promise for what’s to come. Promise for what has been. Promise for moments or seasons like spring. When it feels like parts of our world are coming back to life and we’re seeing the signs of growth from things that were once dormant.

 The world we live in is full of cycles. The school year starts around the same time and ends are the same time each year. The birds leave around the same time and come back around the same time. The leaves fall and the leaves grow back at the same time. We go to bed usually around the same time and get up around the same time. It goes without saying that there are parts of those cycles that we don’t enjoy. There are those of us that are morning people, some that are night owls. Some that love the winter, some who love the summer. Those who can dance in the rain and those who prefer to bathe in the sun. None of them are right or wrong, they just have their preference.

Perhaps you’re not one who loves seasons. I’ll admit it, I’d be ok if we could have summer all year long. As I’ve grown and become older though, I recognize more and more the need we have for seasons.

 There’s a bible verse from Ecclesiastes that says,

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.  

I’m sure it sounds familiar in some ways, The Byrds turned it into a hit song in the 60s.  

When it’s all said and done, we can find hope, opportunity, inspiration, motivation  and perhaps even respite in the fact that we live in cycles. If we’re going through a tough time there’s usually a pretty good chance that those tough times won’t last forever. If we’re in the prime of our lives when everything is going fantastic, there is also a chance that those times won’t last forever. Said another way, this too shall pass.

So as we finish winter and enter spring we can remember that we get to enjoy and embrace each season of life as they come our way.