Magazine for November 2010
There is a time and season for everything
Are you someone who enjoys this time of year? Do you love the crisp autumn air, the vibrant leaves on the tree as they change colour and fall, the search for your favourite jumper and pair of gloves? Or do you miss the long summer evenings and the search for sunglasses rather than scarves?
I am distinctly in the former category – I love this time of year and often feel the sense of change and movement and seasons more acutely than any other time.
On a recent trip to Westonbirt Arboretum, Jeremy and I wondered as we wandered through the incredible Acer and Maple trees with the most glorious palette of colours – far from being a season of browns and falling leaves, this was an image of beauty and breathtaking colour as the trees transition through the seasons.
The change of seasons may be a helpful reminder to us as we consider where we are in our own lives, in relation to one another and in relation to God. For our lives are made up of seasons too: times of Spring – new life, new beginnings, new relationships; times of Summer – bright, joyful, light where cares are few; times of Autumn – of change and transitions, sometimes hard, sometimes beautiful; times of Winter – when things are sometimes clearer with less distraction, sometimes stripped away, sometimes bleak or very hard.
God has given us seasons, and in this country we are blessed to really know and see (and feel the temperature) of the different seasons. As we enjoy (or endure) this transition from Autumn to Winter, let us also remember that he has given us seasons in our lives.
As we share life together at St Mark’s and in this wider community, let us celebrate those seasons of joy, and support one another in the seasons of hardship or challenge. Let us pursue all that makes for Godly living with one another and among one another. And let us praise God for his constant, enduring and never-failing love, whatever season we are in today.
Rev. Ellie Clack