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Seasonal Changes

May 3, 2016

For a short time in my life, I lived in Florida. Now, for a Minnesota country boy, Florida felt like a never-ending summer.  Summer is my favorite season. While living there, the seasons came and went without much fanfare or change. No long, cold winters to endure. No arctic blasts to chill my bones. I must admit that I liked it. However, as life would unfold into a new season of my life, I returned to my northern homeland. It wasn’t until then that I discovered that I actually missed the seasonal changes we experience here in the Upper Midwest. Seasons have become for me a beautiful metaphor for living. We look for the hope of spring. We are energized by the life of summer. We mellow out in the colors of fall. We wait with all of nature in the silence of winter.

As a child, I loved each season. I couldn’t wait to see the bearded irises bloom in spring and watch the ants open the blossoms of the peony bushes. When the warmth of summer came, you would find me swimming in the lake or climbing cliffs and enjoying the thrill and adventure of being alive. School would resume in the fall and I looked forward to being with my teachers once again. There were leaves to rake and jump into; bonfires to warm up to, with hot cider. Winter brought ice skating, sledding, snow forts and blasts of pure joy. Yes, I was happy as a kid.

But as the years passed so did my child-like wonder of living. The concerns, responsibilities and wear and tear of life would seemingly make life a never-ending winter. The metaphor of this life-long winter became void of hope, joy, wonder and even love. It’s not the way of living God would have for us. Christ said he came to give us abundant life. I needed to once again return to my youthful spirit that once loved and lived this abundant life. Recently I ran across a quote which reminded me that the youthful seasons of life are still within me and are within each of us. “In the depth of winter I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” —Albert Camus.  This spirit will surely bloom within us just as surely as the flowers are blooming in the spring of today.

I needed to return to the vigor and vim of the life I enjoyed as a kid.  We are invited by Christ to come to him as little children. So, I invite you to find that child within and enjoy the seasons of life with renewed hope, boundless joy, wonder and praise, and a love for life that will inspire others to find their youthful spirit.

Written by Chaplain Lane Skoglund-Anderson