To everything there is a season.

Today is beautiful. The weather is changing...moving us towards the glorious autumn season. Four times a year, when I feel the wind change and see nature respond, I think about life, and how it is so similar to these patterns we see around us. Shakespeare and many other great poets and writers talk about this idea often in their writings. The idea that our lives mirror nature's four seasons.

There is Spring - or birth. The beautiful time when everything is new; when we are seeing everything for the very first time. Then there is Summer - our youth - the carefree, breezy, wonderful time where our worries are few and the days are long. Autumn represents older adulthood. Things are slowing down, and shedding their summer leaves and blossoms. Winter is an ending; a beautiful quiet finale. I love this idea. Partially because I love nature so much I guess. 

I worry about aging. I think we all do. I'm turning 25 this week, and every birthday I automatically overanalyze my life. Where am I right now? Where did I want to be at this age? I am moving out of my youth/college years and into my mid-twenties. Where did the time go?! As a little girl thinking of myself at age 25, I envisioned marriage and babies and many things that I do not see in front of me. But today, as I walked in the last of the summer sunshine and felt the cool autumn breeze on my face, God spoke to me: "Enjoy the season." Don't look back at the Spring or beginning of Summer. See the beauty in where you are right now. THIS season. And it's beautiful. I am walking my road, living my story, and I know this is what my Author wrote for me...there is nothing better than being right here with Him - watching it unfold.

So embrace the season you are in - metaphorically and literally. Love life! Love the people around you without question. Take chances. Eat caramel apples. Make pumpkin pie. Be thankful. Choose to see the beauty in the present.