the seasons of life

Being a woman of a certain age, and also a lover of the fall season, I was pondering the correlation between the two.

However you may break them up in your own mind, our lives do go through the same seasons as the earth. Beginning with Spring, our earliest growing and blooming; Summer, when we enjoy warmth and vigor, but don't give much thought to the future seasons. Fall, when colors blaze, temperatures cool and we can't deny the onset of Winter any longer;  and then Winter, with its bareness and cold, but also its singular beauty. Not surprising that it bears the title Old Man Winter.


I feel that I am very autumnal in my age and also my perspective. I haven't quite lost my color yet, but the signs are there. Some days, I am refreshed and energetic, and in some, I feel the oncoming aging. But mostly, I see the beauty that is everywhere. I feel comfortable with myself, as the cooling temperatures also are comfortable. Things I might have missed in the hurtling around of earlier times. The slowing that I must succumb to allows more time for reflection. I can see better the benefit and blessings of the trials and tribulations, and conversely, the  comparative emptiness of many of my youthful pursuits. I notice the slowing of my inner motor that pushes me to strive at things instead of accepting and appreciating where God has me today.


And yet, I still feel quite young in my heart, and I look forward to the days to come. I can just glimpse the oncoming horizon, and I am thankful I can prepare myself and still have time, God willing, to adjust to the idea that my Winter will arrive. I pray that I can live every day, whether with physical vigor or not, to the full, and accept the place where God has me. I hope to continue growing until the last, and to experience His grace always.

Everything is grace

~ St. Theresa of Lisieux