Embracing Change

By Charlotte Riegel –

“What’s the temperature this morning?” I asked my husband.

“Negative 10 degrees Celsius. If the earlier frosts of the past two weeks didn’t kill the plants, this one sure did,” he replied.

I felt somewhat crushed and my attitude quickly froze along with the flowers. Jack Frost’s visits became the subject of most of my conversations as I shared my misery with others in search of sympathy. I got plenty.

We had experienced a superbly glorious summer, after the rains stopped mid-July. My community floral enhancement project had been a great success, with beautiful, lush flowers throughout our hamlet. Now they were all gone.

I likely would have accepted our fate without much fuss if I had not seen the flowers in a nearby city still spreading great glory. It irritated me that Jack was quite enjoying our community and choosing to stay here rather than move on to other locations less than an hour away.

“It’s not fair,” I lamented to others.

After several days of badmouthing JF and feeling quite miserable in his company I was reminded that many people love autumn. After all, Jack is the messenger of what lies ahead and is simply doing his duty in warning us to prepare for winter. Emptying rain barrels, turning off outside taps, winterizing some plants and all vehicles before Mr. Winter comes in earnest are just some of the projects to turn our attention to now the flowers are gone.

This is also a good reminder for me to embrace every season of my life rather than grumble about the changes occurring as my body deteriorates heralding the inevitable transition from earth to heaven.

Lord, open my eyes to see the glories of nature throughout all the seasons. Help me to embrace the changing of my life cycles too. I desire to see Your handiwork in it all.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NIV).