Life follows the seasons

By Ellen Shuck

Colors of orange, brown, dusty green and yellow fill the landscape outside my window and along the roads, fields and streets. Fall is my favorite season of the year. Every day brings different hues and tints. It's like walking or driving within a paradise of vivid but subdued paintings. Leaves crunch under your feet and you trip over fallen sticks. The changing atmosphere adds constant joy and excitement. You don't have to go far to be entertained; just look around you.

Various species pursue a different location so they can better survive. Watch the birds flying toward the warmth.

Where I see beauty in the changing of the seasons, others maintain another view. I talked with a man recently who had an entirely different opinion on fall. When I asked him how he liked fall, he surprised me with his answer: "I don't like it. Everything is dying. Leaves, trees and grass wither and die." Wow, I thought, what he says is true, but a depressing way to approach the changing forms and colors I find so wonderful. The chill in the air energizes me. Excitement's a part of the reality.

However, like all seasons, fall diminishes, too. It's followed by what some would call the cold, harsh days of winter. I hold an alternate attitude toward winter, too. I enjoy the colder air, watching the snow fall and basking in the heat of the fireplace. Many, though, struggle during the days and nights of winter, so those individuals see hardship and misery. Everyone has a different outlook, and it often depends on your situation, but remember, it's the way you look at life, as well. The scripture Ecclesiastes 1:4 refers to the seasons: "To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted."

Have you ever searched within to discover which season you may be in, and asked if you've made the best of each phase of your life?

It's never too late to approach each season of your life with an open mind. Everybody enters and occupies each stage in his own way.

You can't refer to what someone else has performed, thought or looked at a particular age and believe you're the same. Never think in a stereotypical manner. Although you may seemingly be like someone else, accept your individuality and stay on your course.

Life presents various opportunities, burdens and trials. It's up to you to do the best you can wherever you are.

Someone may feel he's stuck in a stage of life where he doesn't fit. He's either too fit mentally and physically, or less so. Like plants, animals and the weather, there are many reasons for differences in how you receive, perceive and use seasons in life.

The beginning of life begins with winter. Winter prepares for the new. Plants decay and provide fertilizer, and snow and rain add needed moisture. In the spring, vegetation is fresh, lush and ready to grow -- to fulfill their purpose within the environment.

The period before human birth is the preparation time for the infant. Moms consume nourishing food and observe proper health guidelines. Her body provides the environment. After birth, their springtime, infants and other forms of life grow and learn and experience.

Then summer comes and prods humans to make something of their lives -- see what their purpose is and reach goals.

Fall arrives and humans meditate on their lives. Like the drying but still beautiful leaves, you can welcome your changes with joy and satisfaction knowing the best is still yet to come!

Scripture encourages with, "Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die" (John 22: 25).