The Seasons of Our Lives

It was an usually cold winter and spring was chilly and late in arriving  in my town this year. Yet when I returned home in late May after being gone a few days, I found that many of my flowers around my house had popped out. That was a wonderful sight. A few days later I was awed by the beauty of the fruit trees around my house. The blossoms were so pretty, as God displayed them on the trees.

As I think about this I am reminded that there is a time and a season for everything. It felt like our winter and our slow spring was never going to end, but the beauty and newness of spring has indeed arrived. Soon it will officially be summer. So it is in our own lives. We have difficult seasons, and we have seasons where there are new joys in our lives. Psalm 30:5 reminds us that “weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing (joy) come in the morning.”

As a caregiver I remember having many days when the emotional and physical struggles became very heavy. It felt like a season of weeping and winter. Yet just like we need the winter season in creation, we need winter seasons in our lives as well. In the winter or difficult seasons of our lives we grow and learn dependence on the Lord.

Dear caregiver, just as the fruit trees and flowers finally blossomed in my yard in God's perfect timing; so the winter and difficult moments of your care-giving days will blossom into something beautiful in God's perfect timing. Not only are you doing a noble work for the Lord now as a caregiver, but this experience is preparing you for beautiful things in God's kingdom in the future. Life will always have heartaches even in the “spring times” of our lives, but beauty comes from these difficult times and in the midst of them.

Also remember, dear caregiver, that there is beauty even in the winter season. There is also beauty in the winter or difficult care-giving season of your life. There is always things for which we can thank the Lord even in the difficult moments of care-giving. I have suggested this before, but I am going to suggest it again. Start a praise journal and write down at least three things each day for which you are thankful. If you do this, dear caregiver, it will lift your spirit and change your perspective immensely. Care-giving and life in general can be difficult at times, but God is good.



(My new book DEAR CAREGIVER subtitled Reflections For Family Caregivers is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Xulon, my publisher.  Links to the order pages for my book at Amazon and Xulon are found on the right side of this page below the picture of the book.  Also my E-mail address is also now available on the right side of the page, if you want to personally contact me for any reason.)