I have already begun to feel the pull of the changing seasons; summer is not yet over, but autumn is closing in. Pale yellow leaves are starting to drop from the trees, and the summer sun feels different, somewhat less bold. September will come softly as it always does, heralding a new season, diffused sunlight will bathe my porch as autumn beckons, and I will need a blanket come evening.
The seasons come and go so quickly; like the seasons of our lives, the passage is swifter than we imagine. And not unlike those softly falling leaves, the days of our lives pass by.
I do not mean to sound melancholy, for I am not. It is simply that all the leaves of passing days matter, and we must celebrate them fully. (Sometimes, the leaves seem to fall so swiftly, we get caught up in a dizzy spell of where one day ends, and another begins.) It is then that we must step back and take note of the wind and our own fluttering hearts.
Imagine for a moment that life is like returning to the same summer cottage year after year. It might be a cottage by the sea, or a cabin in the mountains. Because I love the ocean best, I will place a cottage there…a place where the salty air follows you wherever you go, a place so captivating, you never want to leave.
Each year you come as a small child and splash and play in the waves. You ride your bike along the coastline. You make friends with children in neighboring houses. You laugh yourself silly at times!
You return as a teenager. You fall in love beneath a magical full moon suspended above the sea. You will remember this moon, this moment in time. You drive your car around the small, coastal town, remembering yourself as a little kid riding your bike, playing games, swimming in the sea. You feel much wiser now, as if you are suddenly all grown-up. You dream new dreams, and you take long walks in the sand…climbing sand dunes, making your way.
Years later, you return to the beach house with your own family. You are married now, with little ones of your own, scampering about. The house seems smaller than you remember, but the view is as beautiful as ever. It seems like just yesterday that you came to visit…Has it really been that long? The children remind you that you can still run and jump and play. You still take a long time picking out your favorite ice cream…some things never change! (You feel a bit older, but not so very old at all.) In fact, you can hardly believe that you really are all grown-up now, the one in charge of what time everyone goes to bed, the one who has to remember every single thing to pack…and you suddenly understand that it will always be that way.
The years come and go. The cottage needs continual upkeep and renovations. All that sand, wind, and sun, can take quite a toll on a house. But, the beauty of the place remains. In some ways, it is even more beautiful than ever before, as if the floor boards were etched with a timeless grace, rubbed smooth with wear. You scour the beach endlessly for a polished rock, or even a broken shell. (You have lived long enough to appreciate the beauty of broken things. Shells you would have cast aside before as imperfect, are simply stunning now.) Some days, you carry all kinds of broken things back to the house… You scold yourself for filling a whole bucket full of chipped clamshells, odd-looking stones, and pieces of a conch shell, battered by the sea. (All of it goes in the bucket, treasure that cannot be left behind.)
At last, you return to the beach house, grandchildren in tow, all the childhood beach pails and shovels are out again. Your life has spanned at least half a century, and you have great stories to tell. (You tell so many stories that you can put the grandchildren to sleep without any difficulty.) Also, the bedtime hour for the little ones does not seem so set in stone as it was once upon a time. There is always time for another story, another cup of milk, maybe a tad bit more ice cream. Lots of sand gets trekked into the house, but, you don’t really mind… And, you still have great fun building sand castles, and having a picnic lunch of ripe peaches, chilled watermelon, and a tomato sandwich.
The seasons of our lives are always changing, and like that cottage by the sea, things are somewhat the same, but different year to year. There will never be an absolutely ‘perfect’ season, a carefree time without a single worry in the world. Looking back, there never really was a season quite like that, not even in childhood.
But, every season of our lives offers its own unique blessings. Like those grains of sand scattered throughout that cottage by the sea, blessings abound with every step we take. Take note of how those grains shimmer in the morning sun, and cling to the soles of your feet…
Take time to enjoy the view as the leaves dance before your eyes, spinning with endless wonder…
Ecclesiastes 3:1: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
I, for one, am grateful our seasons change. So picturesque, Linda. Thank you. God’s grip – Alan
We change and grow with the seasons. In every season there are opportunities and blessings…
I love different things about every season. 🙂 Each season provides new opportunities to enjoy God’s creations and share His love.
Yes! I love the changing seasons…somehow, we are always ready to start anew, season by season. 🙂
Love how you describe the changing perspective. My bedtime now is earlier than my grandchildren’s, they’re all adults now.
My mother is 87 years old and she still likes to stay up late! 🙂 I can fall asleep long before her. She does cheat…she takes little cat-naps throughout the day!
I couldn’t agree more, Linda! Every season brings its own gifts, and its own challenges. And we need to recognize that and live as fully as we possibly can, with gratitude, whatever the season happens to be. Lovely photos, too, by the way!
With the exception of love, if there were a key to life, it would be gratitude. Through the eyes of love all things are transformed. Through the eyes of gratitude, we are continuously aware of the never-ending blessings that fill our days.
Linda, you like Ann, have the great talent to weave so much wisdom into your posts about life! This one fits very nicely with my ‘death’ poem 🙂
this is such a realistic and soothing post, great pics!
We are forever opening one door and passing through so many rooms; one day we will pass through the door that opens to new life in heaven. God has made this door possible through Christ. All of the steps we take in this life matter…all of the rooms we pass through, and all of the people we encounter there.
Love the changes over the years. XO
The way we see things seems to soften as we age. It is kind of like a Monet painting; the colors are beautiful, and we appreciate the total composite of our lives. We understand that light is everything and infuses the ‘ordinary’ moments with a beauty all their own. There is no such thing as an ‘ordinary’ sun-drenched day, or a moon-lit night that is not extraordinary.
This reflection is just exquisitely written. The cottage by the sea reminded me so much of my grandparents’ cottage at Cape Elizabeth, Maine. How I loved that place.
Maine is such a beautiful place! I am glad this piece stirred memories for you. 🙂 Your grandparents’ cottage sounds wonderful…
It was a real summer cottage, with all kinds of shelves between the studs for books and little treasures. All of the furniture was from the farmhouse in Nova Scotia where my grandmother grew up.
I have never been there, but I love your grandmother’s cottage!:) I have only been to Nova Scotia once. I hope to visit there again…on my list of awesome places!
Nova Scotia is beautiful in the summer. I don’t think I’d attempt it in the winter.
I agree with you! 🙂 It is a lovely place to be in summer!
When I went for an afternoon walk yesterday, I felt the feeling of autumn in the air. It was subtle, not yet formed, but a reminder that the summer was in transition. Autumn is my favourite season, full of new possibilities, books, studies, gatherings. A wonderful reflection, Linda!
Autumn is a wonderful time. I look forward to it each year! The trees are so very beautiful…that alone, is such a magnificent thing!
I do like imagining the season changes are like going to a cabin. For me the mountains or on a wilderness lake. Lifes seasons go fast, then faster.
I have noticed how much I have changed in how I approach and handle the seasons. My younger self was very fast paced. My older self is paced.
Very well written and thought provoking Linda.
We do see things differently as we age…In regard to pacing, I think we pause and reflect more often. My younger self was apt to make decisions very quickly. I thought things through, but, now, I ponder the consequences of decision-making at a deeper level. I have more life experience to go on now, and that changes my perspective. ( The partially unmarked trail I skied down at dusk is something my teenage self did not fear; now, I know what it is to fear for my children and grandchildren on the snowy slopes of life.) I still love the mountains. I still love the snow. (I know a whole lot more now than I did then about unmarked trails…)
I can definitely feel the change of the seasons too – even though we’re still in Summer, the UK hasn’t really had much of a Summer this year and there’s been a few really chilly days lately. I do try and embrace all the seasons but Autumn does have my heart!
Fall is an awesome season! I love to take walks and see all the leaves changing color…The sky always seems so very blue with the trees ablaze in shades of red and orange. 🙂 I hope you have a beautiful autumn this year!
I could picture myself walking and coming back to the beach house every year through your words. It has been so hot here in Ontario, so it is hard to imagine that the cool weather will come in few weeks. Also, I remember coming back to my parents house after not being there for three years and going up the stairs, and I realized they are much smaller than I remembered. I think the same when I put my kids to bed that now I am responsible for guiding them and pack everything around if we go somewhere. I am looking forward to some rain and colder days.
I hope you get some cooler weather soon! I love summer, but, when the seasons change, I am ready for the refreshing change of pace. We do feel so responsible for our children, and that never really changes! 🙂 We always want them to be happy. As the years go by, we see that our children bloom in due season, with the help of God. Like us, and those before us, there are growth spurts and times of upheaval; with sunshine and plenty of love, our children flourish, and become the people God has ordained for them to be.
I just mentioned to a younger person the other day (in response to another “You-know-when-you’re-old” joke) that each season of life has its advantages and blessings. You expressed it beautifully with your metaphor of the beach cottage, Linda!
You are so right, Nancy!!! Every season has its own blessings that unfold with time. Perhaps, our younger selves could not appreciate the blessings we receive later in life. I only know that we cannot really compare the seasons. How can we compare the first snow of winter with the first crocus blooming in the spring? Both snowflakes and crocuses have their own beauty. So, the joys we discover at eighty years of age are different than the joys we discover at the age of twenty-five. But, ask any great-grandmother about her great-grandchildren, and you will see a face that lights up with happiness. Joy is not reserved for only certain seasons. Joy flows like a river through winter, summer, spring, and fall, if we understand that rivers ebb and begin again, and the frozen places thaw in due time.
Love your observation that joy flows through every season of life just like a river through all seasons of the year (even under the ice of winter). Very true!
This is so beautifully written, Linda! My family spent summers on a lake in northwestern Wisconsin, so although we didn’t have shells and such from the sea, we had so many other gifts that were similar to your experience. We would leave before dawn the day before Labor Day to drive back to Ohio. It was always hard to go. But as soon as school was over, we left for The Lake. My fondest childhood memories are still there. And my sister still owns it. Thank you for this trip through time!
It is wonderful to hear of the happy times you shared with family at a lake house. How fortunate that your sister still owns the house, and you can return there again! We grow older, but we never forget the days of our childhood…The people and places are etched upon our hearts and minds, and that is a beautiful thing!
Lovely memories and blessings you’ve shared. It’s like a beautiful story.
The years come and go quickly. When we look back, we see the blessings sparkling like diamonds. Some years are harder than others, but, always, gems are strewn across our path, little blessings to help us find our way.
This post is absolutely lovely Linda. There is a lyrical quality to the words as you capture the rhythm of the changing seasons both in nature and in life. It made me think of the project I am currently working on. My mother turns 80 this year, so we decided to give her a photobook compiling the pictures from our family beach vacation taken every year to the same location since my eldest brother was a baby. The job of sorting pictures fell to me. What a delight to relive memories and see the changes in our family the years have brought- the addition of spouses and grandchildren. The journey begins with Mom standing tall with a head of dark hair holding my tow headed older brother (Dad’s behind the kodak camera) to her seated next to my father, both with heads of silver hair, surrounded by their grandchildren (an iphone camera capturing the moment).
The photo book sounds amazing!!! What a beautiful gift… It is a wondrous thing to travel the road down ‘memory lane’. So many things in life come full-circle in such incredible ways. I hope your mother has a wonderful 80th birthday celebration!
What a beautiful post, Linda! You are so right–and eloquently express—the passage of time and seasons. We can find beauty and joy in all of it.
Your beach cottage sounds wonderful. I haven’t spend an extended time at the beach for ages.
We’ve been experiencing autumn-like weather, but today we’re back to hot, humid–and chance of thunderstorms again.
We have had a lot of thunderstorms also. We have also had so many leaves come down…it does feel like fall!