What season are you in?

Today's blog is a reflection on "The Rhythm of Creation" section of the chapter on "Rhythm" in Wayne Muller's Book Sabbath.

I remember the first time a friend no longer wanted to be my friend. I was in elementary school. It felt like my world was ending. I remember some adult saying to me that "some friendships have very short seasons". I was 7. I really had no idea what she was saying. But, the words stuck with me and the more I experienced the various seasons we experience in life, the more I understood.

By seasons of life, I don't mean spring, summer, fall and winter. Rather, I mean that just as there are seasons for planting, growth, harvest and dormancy in the natural world, those seasons also exist in our own lives and relationships. There is a rhythm to life with highs and lows, bright spots and shadow sides. It is neither good nor bad -- it simply is.

Apparently, when I was 7, that little girl and I had harvested about all we could from our friendship. It was time to let it lie and turn the energy invested in our friendship towards something else. That was such a hard lesson to learn -- it is still a hard lesson to remember when I feel the winds shift in life and attention turns from one thing and towards another. I have to remind myself that seasons aren't meant to last always. This new season will bring possibility, just as the last one did.

Being here, with you, at CUCC, personally, I am in a season of newness and growth. At the same time, with David at home with our daughter, our lives have slowed down dramatically. So, this season is also one of nurturing and nesting. It is a season of investing in a new community and letting go of the former one. There is a rhythm to life and that rhythm is good.

So, I wonder, what season of life do you find yourself in and where is goodness to be found there?