Seasons

Ecclesiastes assures us there is a season for everything. For those of us with children, it is “back to school” season. For some of us school happens around the dining room table and for others it takes place at a local school. Some of you will be doing a “happy dance” when the bus pulls away. Others will tear through a box of tissues and count the hours until that bus brings them home. Maybe this is your first time at the rodeo and you’re sending your baby off to their first day of school ever.  Whatever scenario is playing out at your home today, it is the beginning of a new season.  To me, the beginning of the school year feels like a clean slate; ready to be filled with amazing things.  Today brings to mind, freshly sharpened pencils and new lunchboxes. It is a time to begin anew. It makes me think of Paul’s words:
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
It is so easy to choose to dwell on the past, whether it was pleasant or painful. Each year I find myself wondering where the time went as my children begin a new phase of life. As I write this blog I feel a bit like a “juggler of phases”. We have five children. Shelby is a recent college graduate and has begun her career. Ashley is beginning her freshman year of college today.  Carly, Matthew and Jacob are homeschooled through a virtual school. Hence, why I feel like a juggler sometimes. My goal is to cherish the sweet memories of the past, be fully engaged in the present and look forward to the future with joyful anticipation.  It’s not always easy to do.
I am so grateful that we are given new seasons in life. They give us the opportunity to begin anew. Why not begin a new season today? Purpose to make today a fresh start! Mark the season however you like. Call it back to school, the day after Labor Day or “just because”.
Even though I don’t know each of you personally, I am praying for you. Whatever city you are in or continent you are on, I pray that you will embrace this new season of your life. This morning a quote from a movie came to mind. In closing I would like to share it with you as it seems fitting.
I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address     (You’ve Got Mail 1998)
While I don’t know your names and addresses, I am confident that the Lord does. Knowing that, I pray, not that you’d receive a pencil bouquet, but rather blessings for this season of your life.
Be blessed, my friends!

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