What life “season” are you in?
I don’t just mean “the season of raising littles” or “having teens” or “an empty nester”…I mean, what season does your life currently resemble? Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall?
I’m currently listening to Annie F. Downs podcast series on seasons, and she interviews different guests who she feels represent these different seasons of life. Of course, I’ve only listened through Winter and Spring so far, but it really got me thinking…what season of life am I in?
There are so many different ways to answer this question. I could be in a thriving season professionally, while I’m in a really stuck season in parenting. I could be living in one season, but a close friend or family member is walking through a completely different season, and I begin to share their season with them. Some seasons seem to stick around for a long time- years and years, while other seasons feel like they last a week or two.
Thinking about the seasons means that we have to consider how we may each view the seasons differently. I see winter as cold, dreary, pretty depressing, and lonely. I have learned to find good things in the winter, but it’s still the hardest seasons for me. Spring is full of beauty and new life, but it can also be dreary and have some snow squalls. Summer is my favorite season, with long daylight hours and warm/hot weather. Fall is a beautiful season and I love the crisp, chilly days and nights…but fall is also the season when all of nature prepares for the long, hard winter hibernation.
Of course, you may think of the seasons differently- I know many people who dread summer because it feels oppressively hot and there are so many bugs. So if you are reflecting on your life seasons, it’s ok to label your seasons differently than mine!
For me, as summer arrived and Theo began his brand new job with a completely new lifestyle for us, I began to feel like our family is in a summer season. We went through a difficult few years since 2019, and that felt like the most drawn out winter ever. Adding new children to our family or moving every year was destabilizing and I just felt like there wasn’t a lot of life for us. I feel like our season switched to Spring when Ori was born. He has been such a light and delight, and since we feel that our family is complete, I was able to let go of the ” adding new baby” phase that I’d been in for the last…uh, 8 years. This was also around the time of our lives that we moved to our homestead, left our previous church and became members at a new one, and just generally became more stable. Still, it wasn’t all an easy season but it sure beat the last few years before that! Now that Theo has transitioned from law enforcement to this job, I still am amazed at how abundant our blessings currently are. We’ve had two Saturdays at home together and the whole day I just feel like I’m cheating the system and am SO GRATEFUL for time off with him. Our kids are at a really delightful age- we haven’t hit the big leagues where teenage decisions are a big deal, but we are also moving out of the tiny years and are able to enjoy more independence and time together playing games or sports or just having delightful conversations.
Of course, I wouldn’t qualify life as “easy”. I still have a 2 year old. I still have four kids who have various emotional and physical needs. We still have sickness. My house is a mess no matter how often I do chores. Sometimes I feel deeply lonely. Theo loves his new job, but works LONG hours doing it. The weather is still crummy sometimes, even in the summer.
One thing that I hate about summer is that it quickly comes to an end, and I’m already dreading the day that this season starts to fade and we become overwhelmed with the new job, or stressed out, or something “unforeseen” happens to throw a wrench in our plans. I think that mindset doesn’t help and I shouldn’t be wasting time/energy on thinking that- I should just enjoy the blessings of the current season that we are in. Does anyone else struggle with that? Feeling so abundantly thankful that you are having a “blessings” season, yet absolutely dreading that the moment you acknowledge that, it will all be taken away?
Yes, harder days will come. And then after the hard days, brighter days will come. And ultimately- the best season will come when we enter into eternity with Christ. I wonder what season it will be in heaven?
What about you? What “season” do you feel like you are in? And how would you define the seasons?
