Seasons! I have visited, but never lived, in a place where there is only one season. I do not think I would really like that very much. It is nice, if you live in a climate where the winters are desperately cold, to dream of perpetual warmth. Or, if most of your season faces blistering heat, it is nice to think of cool breezes. Still, I would miss the wonder of four seasons. I can't help but believe that God gave the best of creation to those who enjoy all four of the created seasons. I have a hard time trying to choose which one is my favorite season. In the winter, I look forward toward the spring. In the heat of summer, I wait for the fall. One might think I could limit my favorites to spring and fall, but that is not really true. I love the winter in the mountains when the leaves are gone and the rocks and crags stand out in clear relief. There is something majestic that does not show itself when the green leaves cover the view. And summer, when would you swim or spend a day at the beach without summer? God made them all and I love them! God made them all and I love them! Seems to me that God may have also placed seasons in our lives to remind us of life itself. Spring is the season of beginnings. Summer is the time for growth. Fall is the time of radiant beauty with a hint of coming winter. Winter is waiting for the resurrection that the warmth of spring brings. It sounds biblical, does it not? I find it helpful to think in these terms. At no time is it more comforting than when I stand in grief beside a loved one's grave. Like the barren trees of winter, there is no sign of that which I viewed in the radiance of life, but there is the faith that, as certainly as the trees will leaf out and flowers will bloom in spring, this one whom I love and miss will find new life in the blazing glory of God's greatest spring, the resurrection! Solomon wrote, "There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven" (Ecclesiastes 3:1). And again, "He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart ...." (Ecclesiastes 3:11). I like to think the seasons are just this way. Especially the part where He "set eternity in their heart." I love the blaze of colors in our East Texas fall and I grieve the loss when the last leaf has left the tree. But ... I also know that though the winter is upon us, spring is coming and the bitter chill and the barren land -- and lives -- will soon be filled with warmth, growth, and joy.!