Bittersweet

Note:  I started to write this mid-September; then life happened…

Seasons come, and seasons go.  My favorite seasons are summer and spring.  Summer brings sailing, swimming, long days, warm weather, and lots of outdoor activities.  Spring is beautiful, heralds the coming of summer, and symbolizes rebirth after trials. 

My least favorite seasons are winter and fall.  Winter is simply bitter and cold with much darkness and short daylight - more so up North than at Roseland, thank God. Colors fade into drab browns and grays with momentary splashes of brilliant white when snow falls. 

East Texas winters are not nearly as depressing as the winters up North.  Winter for the most part is actually a very pleasant time of the year with relatively mild temperatures, a fair number of sunny days, with just enough greenery to tease the eye and provide a fleeting reminder that all is not dead. 

To me fall is the saddest of the four seasons.  It signals the end of summer, my favorite time of year, and the coming of winter, my least favorite time of year.  As with fireworks, nature seems to provide us with a grand finale of colors after the long summer show, then the stage closes. 

Fall represents a time of closure, a time of re-grouping, of preparation for the trials of winter.  Summer toys are put away, winter clothes are brought out in anticipation.  “Button down, store up, prepare,” we are taught. 

September has been such a month, and last week in particular has been such a week:
•    We closed to pool – the water is too cold for swimming now.
•    Some leaves began to turn.
•    Illnesses of elderly family members foreshadowed a tough winter coming.

…those were the bitter parts of fall, but then there were sweet parts, too:

•    The roses we planted this year burst forth in colors and fragrance beyond imagination.
•    Jennifer and Johnathan were married in early October.  What a joyful occasion that was!
•    Brayden continues to grow.  He is such a joy!
•    I visited our church family in Denver and recalled the delightful days Debbie and I had spent with them.
•    The gang from Houston came to visit us for a family celebration.
•    God continues to send us guests who leave as family we have known all our lives.  We share experiences, whether that be sorrow, illness, joy, or memories.

We keep receiving blessing after blessing after blessing.  The Lord is good.  The Lord if faithful and true.  Life is bitter yet sweet:  Bittersweet.  So let the winter come, it’s only a few months until the rich sweetness of spring engulfs us once again.

Praise God!