The Dance of the Seasons

Life is a series of seasons. They all look a bit different. Some are bright, some are dark, and some are in between. They all have different lengths. Some are no longer than a sigh. Some seem to never end. They even have different taste. Some are sweet. Some are bitter…and of course, many are just bitter-sweet.

I believe that’s the implication of King Solomon’s wise affirmations in Ecclesiastes chapter 3. There is, indeed, a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. (Ecclesiastes 3: 1)

It shouldn’t be a surprise, then that things change from one day to the next…but somehow, it always catches me off guard when I find myself at a different place…traveling through a different season. It’s as if I get so complacent in the world of my own creation that I fall for the idea that I control it. That’s why, when it suddenly goes off script and life unexpectedly switches backgrounds on me, fear paralyzes me but for the imperceptible trembling of my soul.

There is no way to avoid it…seasons change. No matter how much we pretend all stays the same, nothing really does…and the realization makes me feel afraid.

However, it doesn’t end there.

I just have to remember it’s all a dance. The very fact that seasons are not static is what brings us hope. Whenever I find myself or my loved ones in a season that is not particularly of our liking…we just need to hang in there, for in a little while, do the dance, and know that it will change again. That’s the beauty of the truth in the seasons. No matter how dark and how cold and how harsh and how miserable winter ever is…it does invariably…eventually…always come to an end. There is always summer, somewhere, waiting to warm us up and melt the snow away.

2 a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3: 2-8)