Beauty in Every Season

It's beautiful outside with the trees covered in ice and the ground blanketed with snow  ~ white and pure. Winter is not over, there is  more snow on the way and it's as it should be ~ winter is doing what winter was made to do. It is not supposed to be sunny and warm, leaves are not intended to turn colors or fall covering the ground and flowers are not to bloom. Winter is cold, trees are bare, grass is brown and things look dead - but they're not. 

While winter may seem long, both metaphorically and actually, it's still beautiful. And it has purpose.  Every season holds beauty and as we know from Ecclesiastes,  there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven. Winter, too. 

Aside from the evergreens, it's hard to tell what kind of trees are there because there are no leaves or fruit. But, one day, winter will give way to spring and when the sun shines on them long enough, the temperatures warm and rain waters the earth, fruit will appear. We too, are known by our fruit. Let us, in this season of winter, be preparing to bear good fruit! 

One day, leaves will bud and hide the bare branches that all winter have let us peer into areas often hidden. 

With the leaves gone in winter, it's easy to see the nests safely tucked away in branches, deer running through the trees, and Bald Eagles sitting high on the treetops. 

God reminded me in such a sweet and gentle way to be easy on myself in the season of winter. When things are resetting, resting from the work other seasons impose. Life will spring forth, but let us not forget to live in the midst of the winter. 

Yes, it has been a long winter, and yet, I have the hope of spring. 

I'm grateful for that ~ but, it's still winter and I'm not rushing it because I'm learning some things and settling in on hidden truths my soul desperately needs. And, I look forward to bearing good fruit, in its time. 

Much like the bare trees,  whose leaves have fallen and the ice is weighing down the branches, so am I.  Working to stop believing  the lies of the world or strive to fit a mold. I am fearfully and wonderfully made in His image.  Maybe it's age and maybe it's just resting in Him in this season of winter,  that I'm learning to be easier on myself. There is peace in His presence. 

While I may not often stop and stare in the mirror, I do catch glimpses and sometimes I do pause to take it in. Like the leaves, my hair is gone and no longer covers me ~ but it gives me a different view that I'm learning is beautiful. And my body is in the process of moving from winter to spring and one day, while it will not be as it once was, it will still be beautiful and truth is, this body is amazing. 

With every scar and imperfection there is a story to be told. My body has endured many seasons and produced good fruit in it's time. There has been rest, toil, bearing fruit and flourishing.  It has held five babies, five precious, eternal souls and given life to four on this earth. It's nourished, held and mothered, worked and rested in each and every one of the seasons. It's grown things that have tried to take my life - My body has been cut and sewn up and poisoned and healed. It has done what it was purposed to do ~ in each season. 

My tastebuds are waking up and food is once again tasting as it was intended and my hair may be beneath for a season, but it will come in. In it's time. There's no rushing it. It's winter and winter is doing what winter was intended to do. 

Though pounds may have been added, no doubt for my protection, they will be lost one day - or maybe not. My hair may not look as it once did, but it will still be beautiful in its own way and I will be glad, and scars will fade from my body, but not from my life and as I embrace and appreciate every season, I will embrace and appreciate all of this, too. 

And, I will be easy on myself. It's been a long winter. 

He bestows beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. 

We hold no power to change the seasons. We were not intended to do that! Let's leave to God what is His and let praise be in our hearts and on our lips.  And, let's not rush through the seasons either  ~ but find the beauty in each one and cherish the day, the seasons and remind ourselves there is purpose in every single one.