Allowing the Seasons

Spring is easing in, and evidence of the changing season is everywhere. It’s in the smell of the earth after rain, a few green leaves on a vine climbing a still dormant tree, robins hopping around on the lawn, daffodil stalks emerging amidst a brown earth, open sunroofs. Isn’t it marvelous how we embrace these changes? With higher pitched voices we announce the weather report to our friends and loved ones and proceed to shed our heavy winter coat much sooner than we should. Meanwhile, grumbling if a hint of the outgoing season seems to linger in the form biting cold temps or snowfall. Yet, in our lives, we fight change tooth and nail. Opting for routine and stale moments over an impending overhaul of the previous season.

Hmmmm….FEAR.

We have all heard this saying, often from our own mouths: Change is good! For on the other side of a heart wrenching loss there is a delicious victory, after every death, new life, for every sadness unspeakable joy. The circle of life is just plain scary and can make you cling to seasons that have run their course. Consider this though, it’s even scarier to miss out on how life unfolds if you don’t allow change to happen.

Clutching to the predictable for the sake of the appearance of control and opting to be the spectator out of fear of becoming the spectacle is far less gratifying than letting it all hang out. Just ask Charlie Sheen. Prayerfully, Charlie Sheen will emerge from this season healthy and centered. I’m not saying you need to put yourself out there like that. What I’m saying is that if a caterpillar refused to cocoon because it was afraid of being transformed than we wouldn’t witness the miracle that is a butterfly. Every change you experience is meant to shape you and to take you to the next level. And guess what? There is more to come, but fear not.

Try this approach. When change comes your way, embrace it as though it were a warm sunny respite after a long winter, a cool breeze after a stifling August, or a thunderstorm after several dry weeks. Let it refresh you, move you forward, shape your life. The shift in perspective will open your heart to the necessary ebb and flow of life that comes for us all.