Everyone seemed to have a spring in their step today as I looked around Laramie and WyoTech campus. It's beautiful outside, and save for a few moments of some much needed and appreciated moisture, we've been enjoying window down, sunglasses wearing, sandal loving, spring time weather.
It's amazing the changing mood that happens with the changing of the seasons. It's almost always a happy one. With every season's change comes new wonderful things that we look forward to. In the summer we look forward to being out side, enjoying bar-b-ques, flip flops and shorts, playing at the pool, camping, and enjoying the massive thunderstorms that roll on in. In fall we look forward to the beautiful colors, the break from the intense heat, finally pulling out those adorable boots and sweaters you've wanted to wear for a year now, football, hunting, the school year starting (which may or may not be a good thing), Halloween, Thanksgiving, and preparing for the holiday festivities. Winter rolls around and we gladly welcome that first big snow, watching the snow cover our lawns that have died since summer, pulling out our favorite gloves, hats, and winter coats to play in the winter wonderland, welcoming the holiday season with cheer (and maybe a little stress), and who doesn't love when the red cups and peppermint gloriousness comes back to Starbucks? Finally spring arrives with gentle rain showers, flowers blooming, the return of the green grass, blossoms on the trees, babies being born (both human and farm-animal alike), preparing for wedding season, the return of baseball, only light jacket required weather, welcoming the idea of an "iced" anything from Starbucks, and finally rolling that window down again.
Yes, the changing of the seasons comes with some fantastic moments. But what about the moments in the changing seasons of our lives? Do we welcome those as happily? My guess for most of us is not as often as we should. Sure there are wonderful moments when celebration comes in heaps of gladness. Getting married, having a baby (until you bring them home), graduations, big anniversaries, and maybe the next tier in the educational world. Though these moments are generally welcomed with tears of joy, what about those seasons that come with tears that aren't so joyous? Like losing a loved one, a divorce, failing out of school, losing a job or being unemployed for an extended period, getting the wind knocked out of you by so many changes at once is hard to handle a lot of the time.
The song "Every Season" by Nicole Nordeman is such a great tune to listen to the blessings that God puts in the changing seasons. But at the very end of the song she says this:
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
When God puts a new season in our lives, He is RE-CREATING us. He wants a change in our lives, whether that is a positive or a negative time to go through, the end in sight is always God's plan. The path He makes is so much better than the one we create for ourselves. My beloved pastor who passed away last year once gave a sermon on changing seasons. He talked about being in a season of lamenting over his battle with cancer, and wondering why God put this in his life? He had been a faithful and loyal servant and then was suddenly stricken with cancer that was ultimately a battle he would lose. But through that time, God was able to use this amazing man in ways he never could have been used had he not had cancer. He could relate to people with life-threatening illnesses, he could use it in his sermons and show how even in darkness there is light, and through EVERYTHING God is there to guide you and hold you.
God knows that when a hard time comes, it is easy to stray. It is easy to blame God, it is easy to be angry with Him. One of my all-time favorite songs is "Better than a Hallelujah" by Amy Grant. It talks about how sometimes God appreciates the lamenting, the praying in times of trouble, the cry of sorrow, better than the praise in a time of happiness. He doesn't only want us to share our good times with Him, but also our bad, our heartache, our despair. He wants to hear it all, He wants us to lean on Him in tough times, count on Him to get us through things, rather than only acknowledge Him when things are great. So why not raise that cry of sorrow, let God release you from pain and tears of sadness, let Him hold you and raise you back up with His love. It is so much better than trying to figure it out on your own.
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