“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”
- Ecclesiastes 3:1
Whew! What a relief getting a reprieve from the scorching temperatures of the Texas summer, that relentless perpetual heat wave that seems to have no end in sight. Not that hot summers are unusual in Texas; they are simply part of where we live. In my lifetime, rarely have there been summers of mild temperatures and higher than normal rainfall.
If I appear to be whining about the summer heat it is because I am. Just wait a couple of months, though, and you’ll catch me whining about having to rake the fall leaves in my yard week after week. And by February I will be sick to death of cold weather. Then around mid-May I’ll be complaining about my spring allergies. Whine! Whine! Whine!
But here is the flip side. I love beautiful fall days, crisp mornings, autumn colors, pumpkin flavored coffee, and football games. It is one of my favorite seasons. I also love cold winter days sitting by the fire reading a book, watching sports on TV, preparing for the Christmas holidays. And I love springtime when the weather begins to warm, the days grow longer, and the outdoors begins to green up and blossom. Then, amazingly, I even look forward to summertime once again, long days to spend outdoors, knocking around in Bermuda shorts and my favorite Keen’s sandals, cooking on the grill, eating on the patio, having picnics, or attending outdoor concerts.
Interesting, isn’t it, the push and pull of seasonal changes, how we soon grow weary and bored from day-after-day long hot days? That’s the push. But the anticipation of fall, crisp mornings, milder days, and early sunsets, that’s the pull. Sometimes I think God must have created the annual seasons – winter, spring, summer, and fall – to prepare us for the seasonal changes of life – childhood to adolescence to young adulthood to middle, then old age. There, too, we experience the push and pull of transitioning from one season to the next. . . Except, it has been the last one that has surprised me the most, even though at the top of my game having grown weary of those hard-charging middle years – the push – yet anticipating new work to do, a higher calling, accepting a more humble position within my family and community – that is the pull. It is so true, isn’t it? “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”