Right here right now the seasons are starting to turn.
The evenings started getting cooler weeks ago and for the end of August the days were no longer hot hot hot. We didn’t even get to really enjoy the pool the last two weeks of summer because of the coolness that set in maybe just a tad too early. With it comes a change in spirit for the season ahead. We are already witnessing the dying of some of the summer flowers and have noticed a few leaves with an orange tint to them. Some things are starting to die off, and not just my window box flowers that I may have forgotten to water for a few weeks.
As we enter into this new season that touches the earth each year we are again entering another season in our lives. Just like what lies outside our front door we have entered a new season inside our home. When we first walked into this house 14 years ago we had a 3 year old, 2 year old and a 4 month old and very little furniture. There were sleepless nights of nursing and long nap free days filled with dance parties, play doh and snacks, oh soooo many snacks. Now when I am cooking dinner instead of a toddler at my feet and cooking with one arm while I nurse an infant, I watch our daughter walk into our home looking like a Time Square billboard model for young professionals’ clothing. When did that happen? I sit waiting to pick our 14 year old son up from cross country practice and as I glance up from my book I look back twice…walking towards my car isn’t this 5 year old with the crooked smile who can barely pronounce mommy, but a boy just shy of a man. When our boys are talking in the other room I mistake them for their father sometimes. The tiny pitter patter of babies learning how to walk padding across the wood floors has been replaced by man boys running up the steps two at a time.
I sit with my husband and we lay out our dreams together…all the while keeping our season at the forefront of our minds. He recently took a week off from work to rest and be slow here with us before school started. I joked with a friend that we had started 6 new businesses, bought a new house, put a pool in and booked 3 trips to various parts of the globe we’ve yet to see. And that’s where my seasons sometimes get jumbled up. Our visions and ambitions are way bigger then us – right now. Way bigger then what we can handle – right now. And while we can set some things in motion we also know that like our current celestial season we have to let some things die off right now in order to move forward. Now is not the time for so many things but it is the time for so many other things. We don’t like setting things down, but we’ve had to do that in the season we are in, for right now. We’ve had to say no to good things, for now. Just like in north eastern PA we can’t plant and grow a vegetable garden outside -right now. A friend recently asked me what our big big dream was, I told her it involved hubby and I working together and is tied to the vision we started this blog with and holds a $35 million dollar price tag. (ok that is huge ultimate, but praying we can start on a smaller scale!) We can either wake up every day mad that we don’t have $35 million dollars, or we can be thankful for the provision we have today and be disciplined in working where we are towards our dream. It’s an intentional focused heart and mind set, that will set your soul free.
Hubby’s work schedule is like that Plinko game from the Price Is Right. Each day he sends his chip down and sees where it lands, bouncing back and forth sliding down a slippery slope not sure where he’s going to land. Everyday I find I have to hold myself accountable for what I am supposed to be focused on. The proverbial balancing act- I’ve turned into focused priorities. I have found hope in this…God has it all planned out already. He knows the path that will unfold before us. Now is not the time to start those 6 businesses, but it certainly is the time we can focus on the ones we already have and learn how to morph some of them into something else later. Now isn’t the time for us to buy a 20 acre farm (although we really want it to be!), but He knows when it will be. What we are wading through right now is leading us where He wants us to go. There is so much peace that comes with honoring the season you’re in. Freedom from chasing after things that don’t fit into your season right now…because they have the potential to create an ungrateful heart for where we are. Keeping the dreaming flowing and the proper focus allows us on what we are capable of right now and continuing to strive while being restful and thankful in this moment will keep you soul at peace. We have become intentional about our season and our time and guess what? The blessings keep on flowing. The overwhelmed feeling of wanting, wanting, wanting are set to rest by the overwhelmed feeling of gratefulness.
It’s like complaining all winter that it’s cold and then all summer that it’s hot.
I’ve learned a lot about being still and present and grateful for right where I am. Right where we are. With a steaming cup of hot cider on the cool evenings wrapped in a blanket eating popcorn watching a movie in the winter in front of the fire place with my family. Right where we are in the backyard with kids playing volleyball way past my bedtime; their friends pulling up chairs next to us to chat with lightening bugs blinking in the distance. Right in this season of growing what we have- our relationships, our faith, our marriage, our work. Knowing our season has brought peace and presence. Knowing your season and being all in it will give you so much freedom and thankfulness. We have seen so many people become overwhelmed, cranky, angry and exhausted by chasing what they think their life should look like right now instead of rejoicing over what it is. Yes, even in the darkest of times we have been able to find something to rejoice in. Knowing how to be still is one of the greatest lessons I have ever learned. It has stretched the years here with my family…those padding feet across the floor, I can barely remember them they seem like a thousand years ago. Being honest with what is serving us and our family well and what is not, well sometimes that is really hard, because it may be attached to something like someone’s long term dream. It’s not always easy to set things down that you may love or your kids love but knowing what is serving your family well and having the strength to let go is one of the most powerful things you can do for your family and yourself. Having a peaceful quiet heart, home, and mind is one of the greatest gifts you can give to those you love the most.
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