The park is quiet this morning as I take my daily 3-mile walk. After 10 weeks of day camp, the pavilion is empty. There are no kids wading in the creek. You can’t find children playing tetherball, hopscotch, or chase. I meet only one person on the trail. The change in season has come to Central Texas.

    We don’t have autumn in Central Texas, just hot and then cold. We get a little spring, but it’s usually hot and sticky while summer is just hot and scorching. Our big change in season is really the start of school!

    While the park is empty, the roads are packed as families are trying to get their children to their first day of school. One mom is taking pictures of her kindergartener preparing for her first day of school. Another mom does the same for her high schooler. One dad follows his little girl in his car as she rides her bike to school. A boy whizzes by on his bicycle and gives me a big toothy grin and a warm “Good morning!” Parents are helping their head out for the first day of their new adventure. The change of season has come.

    For some folks, this change of season is a good thing. Life can now return to a more predictable routine. For others, it is both exciting and scary — parents with their first child going off to school or leaving for college. For others, it is depressing. For all of us, however, it means a change of season. Saying good-bye to baseball and hello to football. Seeing bigger crowds at church. Facing more predictable traffic problems on the morning commute. Finally reaching the end to the re-run season on TV. Getting back into that homework helping habit.

We cannot stop the seasons and we cannot stop life’s changes.

    I’m glad we have a change of seasons. They give us a chance to re-evaluate what we do and why we do it. Even more, a change in season gives us an opportunity in the midst of one transition to make other significant changes in our lives. After all, life is about change through the seasons. We cannot stop the seasons and we cannot stop life’s changes. God can use both to mature us and bless us.

    Our Heavenly Father wants us to go beyond seasonal change. He wants us to experience genuine spiritual transformation. (2 Corinthians 3:18) This transformation takes place because of his grace and power that are at work within us. (Ephesians 3:20-21) He is busy growing and maturing us. We respond to his power and grace by intentionally surrendering our will to his will and passionately pursuing his upward call in our lives. (Philippians 3:7-15) His work in us takes shapes in noticeable and glorious ways. (Ephesians 2:10)

    The park is quiet today, but the schools are busy with activity. The change of season has come to our neck of the woods. I’m going to use it as a time for God to do some serious work on me. What about you?

 

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Title: "More Than a Change in Season"
Author: Phil Ware
Publication Date: September 16, 2002