seasons

they come & go. they sometimes stick around longer than we'd like. sometimes they can't come quickly enough. they are cyclical. they are temporary yet always there. they are wanted then forgotten until the next one comes around. they bring change. they bring newness. they make us want to clear out our closets & clean house. they make us sniffle & sneeze more. they reinforce the need good-byes & hellos. they remind us that as we leave this stage, there's another one ahead. 

it's these cycles, these changes, these well...seasons which bring new life & change into being.

glendalough

it could be a school year, an illness, a relationship, a sport, a tv series, a milestone, or a new baby which brings in a new season into our lives. seasons bring in fall colors, or blooming buds, or chirping birds, or feet of snow. actual seasons bring change. they bring a turn of the calendar page, they bring something new, something long forgotten, something that's needed. it's seasons in our lives which bring space to reflect, space to remember, space to wish for what was but also to hope for what will be. so whether you're finishing up school, starting a new job, moving, having a baby, battling an illness or turning an unknown page, you're in a season. 

i sit back & watch the seasons in dublin. i see the cold rainy days of winter coming to an end, ushering in sun, flowers, & joy. i see a long easter break. people come & people go. holidays are taken, plans are made for the coming summer, the school year is wrapping up, & the list goes on & on. i guess, i felt "settled" & thought things would stay as they are; i was unaware i was in a certain season which was coming to an end. i saw routines & schedules, now those things i thought i knew are thrown out the window. they're being replaced with new routines, new schedules...new seasons. the change was unknown & uncomfortable but now recognized & embraced. for it's ebb & flow of life which keeps us moving, growing, & learning. what season are you in? a bad one, a good one, a challenging one, a joyful one, a long never-ending one? are you in between seasons? do you like the season you're in? how can you learn from this season?

glendalough monastic city

psalm 1:3 he is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields it fruits in its season, & its leaf does not wither. in all that he does, he prospers.
psalm 104:27-28 these all look to You, to give them their food in due season. when you give it to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are filled with good things.
ecclesiastes 3:1 for everything there is a season, & a time for every matter under heaven.
zechariah 10:1 ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain, from the Lord who makes the storm clouds, & He will give them showers of rain, to everyone the vegetation in the field.
galatians 6:9 and let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 

great songs about seasons:
"seasons" by nichole nordeman
"seasons of love" from rent

quotes about seasons

• "if we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." -anne bradstreet
• "her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise & the day, from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leave & withered hedges, & from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn--that season of peculiar & inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste & tenderness--that season which has drawn from every poet worthy of being read some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling." -jane austen persuasion



glendalough upper lake

• "is not this a true autumn day? just the still melancholy that i love- that makes life & nature harmonize. the birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay & begin to strew the ground, that one's very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth & air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. delicious autumn! my very soul is wedded to it & if i were a bird i would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." --george eliot
• "with so many trees in the city, you could see the spring coming each day until a night of warm wind would bring it suddenly in one morning. sometimes the heavy cold rains would beat it back so that it would seem that ti would never come & that you were losing a season out of your life. this was the only truly sad time in paris because it was unnatural. you expected to be sad in the fall. part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees & their branches were bare against the wind & the cold, wintry light. but you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. when the cold rains kept on & killed the spring, it was as though a young person had died for no reason. in those days, though, the spring always came finally but it was frightening that it had nearly failed." -ernest hemingway
• "always in the big woods when you leave familiar ground & step off alone into a new place there will be, along with the feelings of curiosity & excitement, a little nagging of dread. it is the ancient fear of the unknown, & it is your first bond with the wilderness you are going into." -wendell berry