Seasons

Krista Longeway is a poet and a writer who has been a part of the VAC family since 2018.  She is also a special education teacher and proud mom of two. When she's not writing, she enjoys baking, curling up with a good book, and spending time in her garden. For more of her writing, you can follow her blog at krista.longeway.ca.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
(New Living Translation)

For everything there is a season,
A time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.

When I take a step back from my life, I see the changes of my life mirrored in the life of a tree.  As the world turns, the tree is transformed from one season to the next.  Summer fading into fall and frosty winters melting into the new life of spring.  And on it goes, life giving way to death, only to be reborn again, in a never ending cycle of growth and beauty.  Yet through all of these changes, whether we are in a season of joy or sorrow, our eternal God remains the same.  He is there, listening to our prayers and directing the seasons and changes from above… watching over us with gentle grace and love.

I am never more aware of the changing of the seasons than I am in the fall.  It is a new school year for me, with new faces, new routines, new worries and new celebrations.  As green leaves of summer fade to red and gold I feel the change in the air like a living presence.  A reminder that the old year is gone and something new and different is just beginning. At this time, I am keenly aware of the fact that nothing remains the same for long.  In life, change is constant, and so I strive to enjoy each season as it comes, knowing that it will not stay for long, as much as we may wish it.  This leads me to wonder… what season of life are you in right now?

Seasons

In a cool forest thick with aspen trees
I watch branches sway in the summer breeze
Sun filtering down through the canopy
Of bright green leaves blowing high above me
Where breezes make dancing light and shadow
Cascade down to the forest floor below
The quiet whisper of the leaves above
Speaks to my soul with quiet truth and love
The trees telling their own stories of both
Their never-ending change and constant growth
For as the seasons turn these leaves one day
Will dry and fade to orange and red then lay
At the feet of the trees on the cold ground
Waiting there patiently without a sound
And then one day the snow will softly fall
Forming a frosty blanket over all
Until the day the earth begins to warm
In a burst of life new buds slowly form
As the world turns, the seasons come and go
And I, like the aspen have come to know
That there is a right time for everything
A time for every dance or song I sing
There’s a time to laugh and a time to cry
There’s a time to live and a time to die
And each day I make choices big and small
Yet in my heart I know that through it all
Our father God remains always the same
He hears our prayers and knows us all by name
Directing each of the seasons from above
With his eternal grace and gentle love