Wordless Wednesday - Icy Flowers

In honor of those 

who still have snow, 

here's a little hope. 

Flowers of pink

and flowers who think

that yellow steals the show!

So when you see your world so white,

cast a glance or two

and maybe beneath the layers of ice,

bright colors will meet you!

Black and white versions...

                             Thanks for dropping by! Happy WW!

Monday's Musings - Seasons of Life Pt. 2

Monday's Musings - Seasons of Life Pt. 2

In my last Monday's Musings post, I wrote about the Seasons of Life. While there is an overall understanding of the seasons of life with respect to age, I think that looking at seasons in life that has nothing to do with age is particularly useful.

For as you already know, we can go through different seasons over and over in life.   

Winter seems to happen off and on for most of us. It can feel tiresome, dreary and weary. Winter is when we are in a season of hardship or struggle. Life can appear bleak. Tiring. We may have a huge struggle or maybe life has just worn us down. Joy may be harder to find. Sometimes, we just want to give up.

But here's the thing about winter. It does end. 


And it's always followed by spring. Every time. 

For you see, while we may think God has given us more than we can bear, he knows what's best.

Can we really go through life with no pain or suffering? No heartache? No physical issues? No health issues? 

If we stop and think about it, the answer is "no". 

But we want a life free of pain. At least I do.

God never promised us a perfect life. 

But he did promise to be with us, during the winters of our lives. 

And at some point, if we're looking for it, we'll see the color of life seeping into our black and white lives. 

We'll see the fog lifting and the sun beginning to shine through. 

We can start to notice the flowers beginning to bloom, even with the barren trees in full view. 

This is when God releases us from the hardship and gives us hope that life moves on. That we will have a time of rest. 

It's a wonderful time.

It doesn't mean we'll never struggle again. It just means God is faithfully walking with us. And that he sees fit to give us a breather. 

To put what we learned in the winter into practice in our everyday lives. 

To enjoy the sun. And the bright flowers. And the beautiful blue sky. 

Recently, God gave us a huge breather. While my father-in-law is still terminal, he's surprised all the doctors and hospice nurses and is getting stronger! He's outlived their predictions by three months so far and counting! He even had to be re-evaluated to stay in the hospice program! 

We know the end is still coming, but what a gift! More time to enjoy his company and hear about what he's thankful for. How he appreciates how God has blessed him. 

I can say I'm thankful for the breather. 

How about you? What season of life are you in? What have you learned from it that you can share with others? 

I'd love to hear from you! 

And if you have a post somewhere on the topic you'd like me to read, please leave it below and I'll stop by! 

Monday's Musings - Seasons of Life - Pt. 1

Monday's Musings - Seasons of Life - Pt. 1


I love a change of seasons. I really do.

I lived in south Florida for years. I missed spring, fall and winter. Technically, Florida may have four "seasons", but when you can wear shorts 360 days a year, the seasonal changes are too subtle. At least  for me.

Now that I live in SC, I just love the four seasons. Each has its own distinct flavor. And they're about equal to each other in length where I live. But by the time one season gets a tad old, the next one peeps its head around the corner, promising change. I love that, too!

Spring shows up here on shoots of green with yellow flowers bursting into our brown world. I love all the colors of spring. Yellows, pinks, purples, whites and various greens. Including pollen green. Okay, so I don't like that color much.

Then summer enters quickly with deeper greens, reds and oranges. Along with high temperatures and bugs. Gotta love the south! We women don't sweat here. We glisten!!

When we think we can't take much more humid heat, the nights start cooling off and the leaves change to their autumn collection.  Browns, reds, yellows, orange... Once the temperatures cool down, we venture outside a lot more.

Then comes winter. Winters here aren't too hard. It's never really cold for more than a few days. (Although I would love  more cold!) People may laugh that 3 inches of snow shuts our city down, but we just don't have the equipment on hand to clear roads. Plus, you need more than one snow day a year to learn how to drive safely in the snow. So, it snows, things shut down. But then the snow is already disappearing by the next day and we're right back to life. Sigh. I could use a good snow day about now!


So, what can the seasons teach us? Well, the obvious comparison is that spring is like being born and enjoying our childhood. Lots of new experiences, excitement at every turn. Delight in all the changes.

Then, summer compares to our years when we find a career and have a family. We love to get out and play. Experience fun times together. Life still seems to hold all kinds of opportunities. The possibilities may still seem endless.

But eventually, fall sets in. We find ourselves in mid life. Health issues may crop up. Our parents age more than we'd like. We find ourselves getting tired more easily. How hard life has been up to this point may wear on us more than we want.

Finally, we enter our "golden years". Most of our parenting is done. We may have grandkids. If we've saved well, we can retire and travel or spend more time together with people we love. But we may definitely slow down.

Is this all there is to life? No. While the analogy fits, I believe that we can look at the seasons very differently and take strength from what they can teach us. Through out our lives, the season are constantly changing. And that can help us learn how to weather the storms and keep persevering as the bible says.

While I may be in the fall and in "mid life", I'm excited about the future. There are career possibilities opening up for me I never dreamed of. They are ministries opening up I never thought about. I may be slowing down a bit, but that's making me rather intentional in what I spend my time and energy on.

So come back next week for part 2. We'll look at how we sometimes feel stuck in one season. But there are some wonderful lessons to be learned while hanging out in the dreariness of winter. Or in the heat of summer. You know, the times in life where we want relief.

But for now, which season are you in?

Thanks for dropping by!