Stewarding Your Seasons

 It’s March!!!! Can you believe it?  I can’t.

What I love about this month is the fact that Spring will officially start.  Flowers bloom, the weather gets warmer, and everything is just blossoming!!! But the flipside to my love for Spring, is the fact that Spring does not love me.

I know you’re wondering, “How does a season have any feeling?”  It doesn’t, but what happens within the season, is how I came to this conclusion. Pollen (tree or plant) causes my allergies to go hayyyyywire!!!! I spend a lot of this season trying to breathe, but yet, I think it’s just so beautiful!

I’m sure it sounds weird that I love the time of year that gives me the hardest time health wise.  There are so many wonderful things that are getting ready to happen, simply because of the season we’re about to come into. Most animals come out of hibernation and give birth to their babies, animals that went to a warmer climate during the winter months return, and the earth seems to “come alive”! However, this is when we experience a lot of rain, and the chance of tornadoes is the highest.  I’m sure you are quite educated and knowledgeable on what happens during Spring. I just thought I’d recap…lol!

Isn’t it amazing how beauty and disaster can happen in the same season? I think so.

I’ve given you a short synopsis on what Spring means to the earth, just to get to this point.  Appreciate whatever season you’re in because it will change. No matter how much I enjoy the “newness” and warm weather, Summer has to come. It’s inevitable.  But then with Summer, I can wear cute sundresses, sandals, etc.  However, it’s in this same season, that the weather can get so hot, that I can’t stand to go outside and wear those cute clothes…haaaa! Even in “burning” temperatures, there’s a freedom that Summer brings with it, that I look forward to.  In the same regard, I’m not sad when Summer ends, because Fall comes in with pretty leaves and cooler weather. There’s somewhat of a “chill” feeling in the air. Things are settling in…children go back to school, fall semester begins for college kids, our favorite TV shows return for another season and it’s somewhat calm. After which, winter storms in…sometimes before it’s official entrance.  Although it can be frigid where I live, I still enjoy the scenery of beautiful snow and as crazy as it sounds, I like the idea of being “snowed in”. It’s relaxing, it’s restful, it’s peaceful, I get to eat food and wrap up in my blanket…lol!

I’m going somewhere, I promise.

I’ve learned that with each season we experience on earth, I can find the good and I can find the not-so-good.

And so it goes with life.

I’d like to admonish you to relish in the beauty of each season, for when it changes, you’ll only have a memory of what was.  But if you didn’t see any good then, you won’t see the good in the next and you’ll always long for yesterday.

For example, if you’re in a time of learning, but all you see is that it’s too much to learn, you’ll miss the voice of instruction in your next season because no one will be speaking.

If you’re in a time of preparation and it’s a chore to discipline yourself and you just refuse to do it, you’ll be lost in the next season because what you should’ve prepared for will be in the person’s hands that did prepare, even though it was hard.

If you’re in a time of practicing being quiet and you must respond or engage in every conversation around you, you’ll be without words in the next season because what you could’ve said to help the next person, you won’t know how. The people around you had all the answers you needed to help you, help someone else, but you didn’t take the time to listen to those speaking around you.

I said all of that to say this: steward your seasons well.

This means relationships and opportunities (personal and professional). 

I’ve learned that you must steward your season well, in order to enjoy the next one and /or be prepared to operate efficiently.  I’ve watched over time, how I’ve walked in rooms and received instruction from certain people who’d already been in those rooms wayyyy longer than myself.  I listened, I watched, I soaked it alllll in.  I had no idea that the day would come that I would be in that same room and the very people who spoke to me…were no longer there to speak.  Thankfully, I don’t have any regrets because of how I stewarded the season.

But let’s be clear…there are some seasons I did not steward well. Hence the reason, you have this blog…lol!!!!

Oh…and another thing…the fact that you change seasons doesn’t mean that the people in your last season dropped off the face of the earth. Those same people won’t necessarily change their location, but your access to them will be no more. 

There will be some people who are to be in your life for every season of your life, but if you don’t steward the relationship, you’ll miss many of those seasons with that person, that you should’ve been enjoying them with.

Listen, learn, take in, receive, but also…give…of your time, of yourself, from your heart.

Seasons in our lives don’t have a specific date like the four seasons we’re used to. The calendar plays no part in determining that.  But what I can tell you, is that sometimes stewarding well can simply be the “comfort” you need for what’s to come. It can be a simple instruction, that will cause you to not experience depression in your next. Whatever season you’re in, find the good…learn the lesson, buckle up your seatbelt and look at the scenery along the ride. No matter how beautiful or unappealing it may be. What you don’t want to have happen, is to repeat a season.  Could you imagine having to repeat winter multiple times when you could be enjoying Spring?

Oh yeah…I forgot to tell you this:  Don’t. rush. your. season.  Timing is EVERYTHING!!!! There is something to be learned, no matter how hard, good, or long the season is.

Always ask yourself, “What can I learn from this?”  “What should I learn from this?”  “How can I…not… repeat…this…season?”  On the other hand, also don’t forget to find beauty and enjoy it! Seasons come and go, but don’t allow the lessons to go with them. Let your lessons perpetually and eternally teach you, to always steward…well.

Everything I’ve said so far, I’m practicing myself right…now. I've had some recent experiences that made me sit back and survey how I've been stewarding my season. I literally have to remind myself that the blessing really is in learning the lesson. It’s kind of like when you take the training wheels off your bicycle.  It may be a little shaky and scary the first few times, but after so long, you get the hang of it.

Take the training wheels off.  Keep riding with the comfort of knowing that what you learn now, will be the strength in your next. Let me know how it’s going…

I’ll be right behind you for support😊