Seasons

I have been thinking about seasons lately. It has taken a while for there to be a distinct change in season from summer to fall this year, and now that it finally has happened it has gotten me thinking a little. A lot has happened since I last wrote, and since I am guessing that those who will actually read this know me already then I will not recount everything here but only to highlight a few things that are relevant to this post. Graduating from college has been more difficult that I thought it would be, specifically when the fall arrived and I was not starting school. I have never not gone back to school in the fall, or rather not since I was three years old. This was a very depressing thought, and for some time I have really been letting it get me down. Don’t get me wrong I am still very happy, especially being married to Katie and spending my life with her, but this year has a very strange feeling about it. 

     One thing that I realize I miss a great deal is the community that I had at Houghton, and it has made me think a lot about my present situation and how I really have a great deal missing from my life with the absence of friends and family challenging me each day. I have been reflecting a lot on how that is where all of the greatest growth in my life has come about, by connecting with people and entering into a close enough community where great change will inevitably follow. I have been think about that in relation to my current situation where I live in the suburbs a place of essentially fake community where many people live in close proximity to one another but many don’t even speak to neighbors that live right across the street from them. I have thought about how one can also attend church and even be active in that church but again not be part of a community. I think for many community is a scary concept because true community will cost you something, and will change the person that you are, and for many that is a very scary thought. 

    Anyway getting back to my discussion about seasons, I have been thinking about how fitting seasons are as a metaphor for out lives. Now I bet many of you find this realization to be a bit obvious and rather simplistic but at this point of my life it is a rather comforting thought. I have thought specifically as I mentioned earlier about how different this autumn has seemed from other autumns  that I have experienced in my life with the weather taking so long to become cold and the leaves to change and fall. I have thought about how if I look at my life many of the seasons of my life have looked rather similar and have been quite predictable as I find myself returning to school, coming home on breaks, spending summers at my parent’s houses, and yet this season of my life has been so different and has felt so strange and uncomfortable. But as I think about it more, I have begun to appreciate the uniqueness that this season has brought to me the opportunities to grow that it has created, and the hope and excitement for the future as well.

    This Autumn has brought unusual and uncomfortable weather and some circumstances to match. But as each day passes and as we begin to see the beautiful changes finally occurring, I am reminded that as strange as something may feel at first, eventually it begins to feel familiar and even a bit predictable. Though I am still a bit uncomfortable with where I am at, I am seeking out some opportunities to become part of a community and I am hopeful that though this fall has been strange, another will be along before I know it, and with it will come a return to school, and some new and at the same time familiar experiences.