By Melissa Mowat
Seasons
Have you ever noticed how often people say things like: “I feel this is my season to grow in this area…” or “I’m ready for a season of change in my life.” You can interchange “life” with: job, location, relationships, etc. You know you’ve heard them all.
Just as the natural world marks seasons by change and process, we mark our seasons this way as well. Seasons string together and what is gained in one season is needed in the next. What is planted in one season is yielded in the next, which is consumed or stored in the next season, and replanted in the next and on and on. The truth is, we need these seasons to have productive, fruitful and full lives.
Biggest Error
I think the biggest error we can make is to not allow ourselves grace to be present in the season that we are in. A single person can become full of sorrow waiting for a match, while a married person can be resentful of the freedom someone single enjoys. Those who have children in school can become tired or burdened with the busy-ness of extracurricular activities and slumber parties, while the parent who has just seen their child off to college yearns to have those years again. Children can’t wait to grow up and then adults wistfully look back at the “days of their youth.” You see what I’m saying?
We can waste our seasons wanting to be in a season other than the one we are in and miss the gold that is waiting for us right now. Some lay about in plain sight, but others you have to climb for or dig for. (Think of the squirrel and how he forages for acorns. He goes AFTER it- even through many obstacles and difficulties) Every season, even the difficult ones, are an invitation into a process of “becoming” and the joy that can be found there.
Process
I’m learning (or re-learning, I guess) how to find peace and joy in whatever process I find myself in. It’s like when you are baking brownies. It’s such a mess: flour everywhere, sticky measuring cups, gooey countertops…but at the end, brownies exist. Something so delicious came from ingredients that apart from one another are simply ordinary. Sugar is too sweet, flour tastes like nothing, salt is well, salty…
But in process, with time…they have the potential to be something truly delicious.
Sometimes when I’m in the midst of cooking something in my life, it’s so easy to just stare at the ingredients and get overwhelmed or anxious that it’s not going to turn out or taste right.
Allow your season to be what it is. Embrace the mess, the pain, the discomfort of becoming and allow yourself to become. Enjoy the process! Tasting the batter along the way is part of the fun.
