Ready for pumpkins....not

About a month ago....when it was still blisteringly hot....my daughter made the remark, "I'm ready for pumpkins now." She had started seeing some seasonal reminders at the lovely market where she works and started longing for the sights and smells of autumn. Of course, what she really meant was that she was anxious to get back to school because she loves it. Too bad for most (but not all) of us who love summer and never want it to end...or at least would like it extended until November 1st (when I traditionally put up the Christmas tree).

I didn't realize until last night how obvious and deliberate I have been in my opinion about the end of summer. I sit on a Board, and last night a fellow Board member very kindly said, "Lyn I remember something about this time of year.....that it's a difficult time for you....but I can't remember why." She was gently trying to learn if perhaps I had lost a loved one at this time of year and the memories were flooding back. I laughed and told her not to feel bad for me. For the last several years my personal 'revolt' against the beginning of school and routine has been to take the first week of September off of work. I was never ready to leave the lazy, laidback summer days of blank calendars, and jump into tearing around, making kids lunches, driving them to school through all the traffic which just increased by 90 per cent, going to work, then picking them up, keeping their schedules straight and making sure we knew all the important dates and things they needed to remember, etc. and ad nauseum. (And we've only got two kids!) So my revolt was to get them to school and then have the rest of the days of that week to rejuvenate myself emotionally, spiritually, mentally and physically...which I really should have been doing all summer...and prepare myself with 'new year's resolutions' (which I'd get a second shot at in January). It was my way of saying summer's not over yet and I have one more week before I must jump into organized chaos like everyone else is this week.

I am quite enjoying our half-empty nest now. Our 'kids' take care of themselves. Our most difficult tasks these days is opening our wallets for them, or handing them the keys to the car. September is not the stress it used to be. So I'm saving my holidays for better things...like scraping paint in the bathroom (which is still not completed).

The past few days have had that distinctive cool September edge to the mornings and evenings where my body has shivered and been drawn to the jacket that hasn't been touched for so long. I find it so difficult to give up warm summer evenings filled with crickets and fireflys, garden candles and gurgling of water as it spills into the pond; evening drives with moon roof open exposing stars and meteor showers; ice cream, freshly picked fruit and the freshest of vegetables. I refuse to exchange sandals for socks or nylons until my toes feel like icicles.

I actually do love the changes of the seasons here in Canada, once I've accepted that there's nothing I can do about the cold when it sets in. They remind me of God's faithfulness. Even if seasons seem to come earlier or later from year to year, even with 'climate change' and what we do to destroy our environment, seasons always arrive one way or another in the way that is customary in your part of the world. I don't remember an autumn here that the leaves didn't start to change colour even if it remained warmish. I don't remember a fall when the days didn't get shorter, even if we stretched daylight savings time on the clock. The plants still die in the winter season as seeds and bulbs lay beneath soil insulated by snow, waiting for warmer and longer days when they will miraculously burst into life in my favorite of all seasons...the season of new life. I wait all the long winter in anticipation of it. I don't remember a spring that never came, even if it was late or early or seemed shorter or longer. They are faithful to come. The universe is orderly and the sun and moon are set in their place. Does that excite you? Does it make you think that there is a God in control even when the events in our lives seem somehow out of sync, when we're not sure why things aren't the way we planned?

Gaze up into the sky and stare at the stars or the moon for a while. Always in their place. Always. Why? Rest assured. In chaos, in anxiety, in confusion, and in loss. He is there. Holding it all in place. Even more amazing....He tells us He desperately loves us. And that is very cool....cooler than snowcones and icicles in winter!

"...The moon keeps track of the seasons, the sun is in charge of each day..." (The Message Bible, Psalm 104:19)

" Thank the miracle-working God, His love never quits. The God whose skill formed the cosmos, His love never quits. The God who laid out earth on ocean foundations, His love never quits. The God who filled the skies with light, His love never quits. The sun to watch over the day, His love never quits. Moon and stars as guardians of the night, His love never quits..." (The Message Bible, Psalm 136: 4-9)