For Everything There is a Season

You can't talk about "seasons" of the year without acknowledging that life, itself, has seasons. I was reminded of this multiple times this week .... when I pulled my hair into a ponytail and saw lots of gray :) .... when JoHanna asked if she could have my recipe books in "the Will" :) (no harm meant!) ... and then when Jacob saw me shaving Jeff's neck and shrieked: "You have to shave the back of your neck? Life just got a whole lot more depressing!" He set himself up for a "be glad you don't have to shave your legs" comment. :)

Ah, seasons. Can't stop them. Have to embrace them.

Ecclesiastes 3 says that,
¹ There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven ...

¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ...

¹⁴ I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

Click here to read the whole passage.

The other day I was having lunch with a few other gals, and Jacob happened to be trapped ... I mean, able ... to join us. As we finished lunch and chatted, I noticed a little chili residue on the corners of my boy's mouth. I did what any mother instinctively does while in the "little boy's mom" season ... I kept on chatting, multi-tasking and taking my napkin to lean over and wipe the smears. ;/

Jacob's cry of "Mom!" was only muffled by the laughter of my girlfriends and their chiding that I had to realize I have reached a new season ... a season when mothers don't wipe dirty mouths on their tween boys in public anymore. Sad, but true. Years ago I would have wiped (and yes, even licked my napkin!) until his cheeks were red and chapped and CLEAN. He has reminded me all week of this lesson I am learning about shifting with the seasons, and he gave me permission to share my blunder. If you see a boy around Knoxville with a dirty mouth, it's probably mine ... at least until the "I care about what girls think of how I look" season hits. Then you'll find him locked away in a tiny closet downstairs. :)

One good thing about this season, though ... my kids are at great ages to carry their own pumpkins, sweep acorns from the deck, rake leaves, carry firewood, :) and marvel out loud at what they're learning about the seasonal changes they see ... in nature around them and in THEIR own nature. Every season has its sweetness.

Have you ever found life's changing seasons to be a challenge?