Seasons Do Change

After an almost snowless winter last year, it was nice to have snow come early in November this year.  Our first snowfall was not a blizzard but it was beautiful all the same!  (Pictured above is Sarah, my Administrative assistant, enjoying winter's first snow.)  We didn't have much Fall this year, but I welcome the early Winter all the same.  It brings an end to "rag-weed season" and the heat and dust that accompany summer.  It also reminds us of "the seasons of life" of which the writer of Ecclesiastes speaks:  There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens, says the writer in Ecclesiastes chapter 3.

In a beautiful way the writer describes the ebb and flow of the "seasons of life."  It was Paul Tournier who picked up on this theme many years ago when he wrote, The Seasons of a Man's Life.  It is a reminder that as surly as the various seasons come, so will our life unfold through various, predictable stages.

Winter is a time when I, as a pastor, conduct a number of funerals.  But it is also a beautiful time when we are reminded that as the snow covers the ground, the grace and love of God falls upon us all.  The writer of this passage goes on to say, "He has made everything beautiful in  its time.  He has also set eternity in the human heart..." (vs. 11).  So no matter what season of life we find ourself presently in; know that God is there.  As beautiful as the landscape with a newly fallen snow, even so is the beauty and wonder of a new season in our life.