Seasons......

I was enjoying my cup of coffee this morning with my dog, when the strangest thing happened. Well, two strange things happened. First off, I am now aware that dogs pass gas.....it can be loud too! I don't know why I never realized that it was a possibility before. The funny thing is, she seemed just as shocked  about it as I was. It seemed to me like she kept looking at me asking "was that you, or me?"...I assure you, it was not I!

Oh yeah, the other strange thing. Before all of the noisy interruptions, I was spending some quiet time with God, when a fly landed on my chair. Now, in the spring and summer that would not be odd at all, but this time of year we don't have flies in the house. It got me to thinking about Summer and now that it isn't here I miss it so much. I miss the warm sunshine. The days of playing outside. The working in the garden and being able to send the girls out to "pick" our lunch. During summer time, though, I start to long for winter. A time of resting, not only for us but for the ground, too. Now all of this thinking about actual seasons led my brain to the seasons of our life.

I can remember when I still had little toddlers in the house crawling around and getting into EVERYTHING, and how exhausted I was. I remember overhearing a conversation at church with an older lady, saying how she missed those times. Times of having little hand prints on the wall. Times of her little one needing help with something. She was lonely. She was looking back on a season of her life and she missed it. I remember praying that the Lord would help me to not wish away any season of my life, but to help me find joy in it. That can be hard sometimes. I so desperately wanted to be able to take a walk by myself. Go to the store. Maybe even have time to fix my hair. :-0

My girls are nowhere near grown, but I can see the change already starting. They are more of a help to me now than ever before. I can ask them to dust the house, and they'll do it. They can really help out in the kitchen and with cleaning their room. Those things are great, but the one change that I am cherishing the most right now is seeing their little personalities developing. We are having real conversations together, something that I didn't see coming. They are teaching me things about life and God that no book ever could.  Where did the time go? Did I hold them enough when they were little? Did I cherish the midnight feeding? No, probably not. I was just trying to survive them I think. ;-) 

I was thankful for that fly this morning. I didn't even swat at him. God used that fly to remind me to slow down, and be thankful for each season. To not long to much for summer when I am in winter. To not wish away the mundane things of this life, for when we look back we realize how special they really were!

P.S. Imagine my surprise today when the devotion for our women's party was on "seasons of our life"!!