A Season for Patience

Lately the nights have been cooler, the mornings brisker and it seems that fall is not only in the air but around the corner.  It is weird whenever you get to fall, it seems like another year is quickly ending.  The holidays loom ever closer and the days that fill with waking and sleeping in the dark seem near.  I anticipate leaves falling to reveal new light and holes in the sky (the park around the corner from my house always seems more open in the winter when all the deciduous trees have dropped their leaves).  I think of bulky sweaters and drinking tea in the evening.  I imagine that my dogs will stare at me for a few weeks until they realize that it isn't sunny and warm every day.  Freshly sharpened pencils will begin to be dulled and clean notebooks will be written upon and within filled with ramblings and thoughts as the school year begins.  Before long I'll be longing for summer again and the fresh starts of spring will poke through the ground with new fervor.

It is true that there must be different seasons.  In life these seasons bring change, reflection, sorrow, hope, direction and new experiences.  Sometimes the seasons are physical ones like Winter, Spring and Fall; sometimes the seasons are spiritual ones where we seem to keep pulling weeds and new ones pop up or there seems to be little or no growth when and where we want it.  The seasons remind us of how important patience is to our very survival.  Some things in life force us to be patient whether we want to be or not: pregnancy (no way you can hurry this),  growing a garden (you may look every day for the first little green sprout).  It is also during this time of patience that we often learn the most important lessons.  This season of patience is an important one and one that we shouldn't quickly overlook.  While looking to the future if we overlook the present, we'll miss all the valuable things we are supposed to be taking in.

So, do not miss the last days of physical/seasonal summer or spiritual summer.  Enjoy each day as well as looking forward with patience to the future.  Each white cloud dotting the bluest of skies can remind us of a change that may take place.  But until it happens we must enjoy the here and now.