Seasons

You heavens above, rain down righteousness;
       let the clouds shower it down.
       Let the earth open wide,
       let salvation spring up,
       let righteousness grow with it;
       I, the LORD, have created it.

Isaiah 45:8

My husband and I were looking over the fields outside our house this weekend, and I remarked how the seasons of the year are such a metaphor for life.  After a long winter, don't you kind of forget how green everything gets in March and April?  It's a surprise to me every year. 

And just when I think it can't get more beautiful, or the green can't get greener . . . it does!  The trees become more plush and the grass deepens and becomes more rich looking.

Then . . . summer, where the green begins to level off, but bursts of vibrant color abound in florals all around us.  Trees, plants, bushes . . . summer just seems alive with bright color!  Then, around the corner . . . we see tinges of yellow and orange.  And autumn sets in, with such richness in color - again, it's like we forget each year - that the beauty takes my breath away.

Then we come full circle, back to winter, where the pattern of bare branches against a white sky make a pattern of lace.  And snow that seems alive as it shimmers in the sun.  Ice-coated trees that seem to be made of diamonds . . .

It reminds me of life.  There are seasons in my life that just seem so full, so rich . . . I think it can't get better.  And then . . . it does!  But sometimes, there are seasons like a drought-ful summer, where it is so hot that everything seems to wilt - just like in my life, when I'm so busy and overwhelmed I don't think I can go on - where I am just holding on, waiting for the next season.  Or the long, cold winter, where everything seems grey and dead - including me, on the inside.  That's when spring seems so new.  In nature, and in my heart.

Isn't it just like God to use the awesomeness of nature to remind us of the intimacies of life with Him?  There will always be another season.  There will always be something new.  There will always be a time of turning.

There's an awesome song by Nichole Nordeman called, appropriately enough for this post, "Every Season."  Here are the lyrics:

Every evening sky, an invitation
To trace the patterned stars
And early in July, a celebration
For freedom that is ours
And I notice You
In children’s games
In those who watch them from the shade
Every drop of sun is full of fun and wonder
You are summer 

And even when the trees have just surrendered
To the harvest time
Forfeiting their leaves in late September
And sending us inside
Still I notice You when change begins
And I am braced for colder winds
I will offer thanks for what has been and was to come
You are autumn 

And everything in time and under heaven
Finally falls asleep
Wrapped in blankets white, all creation
Shivers underneath
And still I notice you
When branches crack
And in my breath on frosted glass
Even now in death, You open doors for life to enter
You are winter 

And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced
Teaching us to breathe
What was frozen through is newly purposed
Turning all things green
So it is with You
And how You make me new
With every season’s change
And so it will be
As You are re-creating me
Summer, autumn, winter, spring

God is so intimate.  He uses the mastery of His creation to simply have a relationship with us.  Really, think this through . . . isn't He great?