When Seasons Change

I can see my breath. My toes are beginning to go numb. I peek around the corner of the stroller to see my son’s red little nose and cheeks. “Burr cold” he says to me. “Yes, it is cold….it is finally fall”.  I have been waiting for fall to arrive, just as I wait for all seasons to change. I do not think that there is any one season that I like more than others. I am one of those people who love them all; however, I especially love the changing of the seasons.

Now that I have children I find that I really go all out to ‘celebrate’ each new season. In the fall, we enjoy pumpkins, farms, apple cider, colorful leaves and Thanksgiving.  In the winter we enjoy snow, hot chocolate, fire places, endless amounts of stories under a blanket and Christmas. In the spring we love baby animals, flowers, playing outside and Easter.  In the summer we enjoy the beach, pool, ice cream in the shade, hamburgers on the grill and fireworks in the sky. There are things in each season that I love and towards the end of each season I always look forward to the beginning of the next one.

I know I am not alone with my love of the seasons. It doesn’t matter who I am talking too; neighbors, the grocery store clerk, friends, even family, we all talk about the seasons and what is going on in the weather. I also know I am not alone with my love of rainbows. Most of you will stop whatever you are doing and smile at the sight of a rainbow. Some of you (like me) may even stop, take a picture, and Instagram it! 

I believe that we all have a love affair with seasons and especially rainbows because they are significant. They are significant not only because God made them, but because God chose them to be a symbol of His promise to us. When the earth was filled with wickedness and God was filled with grief He wiped the earth clean.  Every living thing on the earth was destroyed by the flood except for Noah, his family, and the animals that were spared by keeping safe in the ark (Genesis 6:5-8). 

When the flood ended and the land was dry God told Noah “never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.  And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.  As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease” (Genesis 8:21-22).  God then says to Noah “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth” (Genesis 9:13). 

God’s covenant says that a flood will never destroy the earth again, that the seasons will always come as expected and that after it rains, God will put a rainbow in the sky as a sign that he will always keep his promise.

Just as seasons on the earth change, so do the seasons of our life. Some seasons are hard and painful and others are easy and delightful. Some seasons seem to pass rather quickly and others seem to linger for months or even years. No matter what season of life you are in at the moment, God is there with you, begging for you to reach up and grab his hand…for He is already there trying to grab yours.  “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze” (Isaiah 43:2-3). 

 It is not a matter of IF we will have to walk through a difficult season; it is a matter of WHEN we will have to walk through it. So no matter what season you are walking through, reach up and grab His hand, celebrate the changing of the season, and stop and praise God for the rainbow.  

Heavenly Father…thank you for keeping your promise and for walking with us throughout all seasons of life. As we fill our days with activities celebrating your earthly seasons may we be reminded of the significance of them and may we Keep You at the center of it all. Amen.