Seasons.

“I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessings.” Ezekiel 34:26 (NIV)

Seasons.

In California. We really do not have seasons. Or so people think. But. If you pay attention. Stop and look. Real close. There are subtle changes.

Fall. Fall comes around October. November. Even. December. The afternoon light changes. As if you are looking through a filter of fall colors themselves. There is a peace. Of the world letting go of the year. Exhaling. The last of its color. Its warmth.

And even though fall. Unlike most places. Continues into December. When the trees finally begin to show their colors and lose their leaves. You need to stop to notice.

Winter. Winter comes. Maybe January? February? I say this with a question mark because. This one is not as subtle of a change. It comes overnight. Or midday. As rain falls. Winds rise. Puddles form. Ebbing and flowing like the tide. It’s winter one day with rain and mountain snow. Then dry and humid less. When the winter Santa Ana’s move in.

And even though winter comes. Without blizzards and below zero. There’s frost. And rain. And inclimate weather school days.

“I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.” Leviticus 26:4 (NIV)

Spring. Spring is a mixture. A winter storm. A hot summer-like day. All of a sudden. Green leaves are back on the trees. The normally brown hills are bright shades of green. With yellow mustard seed plants dotting the landscape. Orange poppies stopping traffic on freeways.

And spring rushes in. In a blink. And with a blink. You may miss it.

Summer. California summers begin with June gloom. Everyone here knows it well. Cloud cover. Fog. Rolls in from the ocean. Covering the coast. Stretching inland. The temperatures are moderate. Though you’ll need a sweatshirt at the beach. And plenty of sunscreen. Though it sounds like an oxymoron. Trust me. It is far from that.

And summer comes back. As if it was never gone in the first place. Because it pops up throughout the other seasons. Like a smile from an old friend.

I have been thinking about seasons. A lot. But not in a sense of the earth’s rotation. Or weather. Or graphing our favorites in my kindergarten class. Seasons. As in seasons of our lives. Of my life.

There is a song from high school. “Seasons Change.” It wasn’t talking about summer, fall, winter, spring. But of life.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:”

Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV)

Some seasons slide in and out. We don’t even realize they are gone until we stop. Look around.

Someone once by your side. Went their own way.

A form of exercise you loved. Replaced by a new one.

A house redecorated. With your new tastes and fashion.

These seasons. They don’t hurt. Don’t bring pain. Don't bring regret or remorse. We just meander through them.

Then. There are seasons. Times. That do bring all those things.

A job lost.

A friend disappears.

A death. A divorce.

A calling changed.

These seasons. Are unwelcome. Changes that leave us blindsided. Gasping for air. Alone and lost.

And we fight. And morn. And grief. And rage. And sometimes. Cycle through again and again. And even. Again. Trying to understand. To make sense. To rotate back to that last season. To make time speed up so we can just be through it!

But most of the time. All we can do. Is sit. And wait. Which is it’s own season. The awful season of waiting.

So. We sit. And wait. And sit. And wait. Never knowing how long.

We are all in one of these seasons now. Unknown. Uncharted. Unwanted. We started off together. And in our isolation. Decided to attempt to push out. Fight our way out. Of it. I’ve done it too.

But in reality. In the same way we cannot keep dry from the rain or make blizzards warm us up or heat waves freeze and cool or leaves stay on trees. We cannot force our way out of seasons.

So as we sit. And wait. Together. Because. . .

“Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your heart with joy.” Acts 14:17 (NIV)

He fills our hearts with joy.

Joy in the seasons of life. If we let Him. Let Him in. With the grief and the rage and the unknown. To sit and wait. With us. You and me.