I loved, loved, loved the true and honest responses to yesterday’s post about clinging vs. jumping. I’m in one of the more interesting seasons of my life right now, and I gained strength and wisdom from your words. My wonderful Katie (a woman whose made some pretty fantastic jumps of her own) mentioned this song by Nichole Nordeman in her comment and I did what I normally do: agree with her. I’ve always loved Every Season, but there was something about hearing it this time that seeped into the corners of my little limb-clinging self in wonderful ways.
So today, I’m inviting you to get a cup of tea and some pumpkin butter and take a long pause to breathe in the beauty of this song and the fresh air of whatever season you find yourself in.
Just about ready to jump,
Bo
P.S. If you didn’t comment yesterday, I’d still love to hear your thoughts on this whole issue of faith in every season.
I’m usually blissfully unaware of what season I’m in. But this season is so different. I FEEL the leaves dropping, the branches cracking, and I’m begging God to skip the winter. I don’t want it – winter is cold, and dead and hurts. But I keep feeling the gentle reminder that without winter and without death, spring will be dead and disappointing. And so as I sit here crying in my office (darn you, Nichole!) I will dare to believe for green someday, even though my faith can’t stop winter.
-Katie
“Even now in death you open doors for life to enter, You are winter”
Also sitting here crying, what an amazing song. In my job I see so many people every day that just need to know that in death and pain the Lord still opens doors. Even in seasons of sickness, He opens doors. A brain tumor can’t close all the doors, for an 80 year old, 50 year old, or 2 month old…He is still the keeper of life and death.
And for me and my “problems” and “worries” (that all seem so small relatively), He holds my heart and places me where I need to be in every single Season. Can I just say I LOVE fall?
Whit
Along with many of you I love fall/autumn: the colours, the beauty of the turning the leaves, the wonder of creation preparing itself for the harshness of winter… if it was all good and gorgeous would we really appreciate this season as much as we do? Surely we need to changes, however hard or uncomfortable they are, to get ready for the next season so we need winter to get ready for the growth of spring and then into the long carefree days of summer.
I am so glad that I grew up in a country (UK) that has seasons and I have always lived in a city that changes colours and temperatures. Much as southern California seems like a great place to be, I think I would eventually get bored with the 70s all the time. God gives us seasons for a reason and they reflect our lives. Going from autumn into winter in our lives is not easy and it will never be that. But seasons do not last for ever; they may be longer than we want them to be, or not long enough, but they are always preparation for the next stage.
I have done a fair amount of jumping in the past 3 years but at times I have been that leaf that is looking to go back to the safety of the “mother” tree; that’s where all my friends and close family are and the air and its surrounds look really unfamiliar and scary. But then there are new leaves from other trees with which to whirl and dance. And that is all part of the adventure that we know as life, love, renewal, wonder and joy and journeying with Jesus.
I did a life map a couple of weeks ago for a staff exercise and the theme I discovered throughout it was “trust”. Trust suddenly seems to come in so many “types”….and I’ve been thinking about the fact that it’s clearly taking me a lifetime to learn to truly trust God.
In my spring (childhood) trust was simple: I trusted my parents to take care of me and God was sort of like a grandparent. In my summer trust has been stretched, deepened and nearly lost at times….now I guess I qualify for “fall” at fifty and I’ve had to trust for two, and learn to loosen the apron strings with my kids and trust God to cover them.
I think I cling most of the time but my grip has loosened over time. Sometimes the landings are hard and you do get stepped on or raked up…but it beats being the only leaf left on the branch when the storms of winter come.
I just have to say that living in the PNW this whole talk of leaves is sort of depressing. We have several tons of them to rake up which I have been trying not to think about. When they are gone the rains start, another fact I’ve been avoiding. Could we please talk about pumpkin butter again?
And how the shoppers at TJ’s gave me weird looks the other day as I exclaimed over the big display of pumpkin butter and tried to bring my poor husband up to speed about a woman named Bo and a blog about butter….?
Karen – I’m trying to picture you at Trader Joe’s and it’s making me happy. Right before I read your comment, my husband and I realized that our yard is COVERED with the leaves from our neighbor’s tree which hangs waaaay over the fence. We totally love the tree…but wow…the leaves are out of control. Maybe we should just talk about OTHER people’s seasons and how much they encroach on our own….that seems like a positive topic. 🙂
Jumper!!! Learning to cling because I look down and see that I am still green. To jump now would be to miss God’s plan, I know. Gotta wait for that color change. There must be something GREAT in that color change. But definitely a jumper by nature and some days find myself wondering… when is that gosh darn wind gonna blow already??? =)
Oh Bo, our trees overhang the neighbor’s yard a tad, and then of course the wind blows leaves where it will, including down the hill we live near the bottom of….but the neighbor gets his blower out and makes sure each and every leaf that falls from our tree, or anyone elses’s tree, including any leaves and gunk in the gutters, go back in our yard where they belong. I’ve been so angry at him at times. I swear he watches us clean up all the leaves and then comes out and blows the ones from his yard over the property line (in a nice neat straight line). When a storm is forecast and I furiously clean all the streets and storm drains to be prepared he comes out after I am done and blows more leaves down to my yard…..
all in all a lesson in patience, kindness, and humility.
So I guess you could talk to your neighbor about the leaves…but please don’t follow my neighbor’s model. Did I mention they are avid bird and squirrel watchers, feed the critters all year, and have NO deciduous trees on their property? Kind of want the goodies without the work. Somedays I threaten to cut all our trees down and see how they like it when the birds all leave…and then I remember that I am bigger than a bitter neighbor and I can just gracefully clean up all the leaves for the entire neighborhood. At least I have a rake, huh!