Seasons

Summer is my favorite season

Because she invites me out… 

lets me sit in her warm sunshine,

 jet-ski in her refreshing lakes, 

4-wheel in her alpine mountains, 

Summer invites me out … 

early for an orange sunrise

and late for a purple sunset;

I cherish her warmth and her riches.

Fall invites me to watch dramatic changes of color, 

to remind me we are multifaceted, 

and that we go through various experiences to expand our horizons; 

We choose less-traveled paths, 

                                                keeping an eye on the undergrowth, 

                                               but focused on the possibilities ahead.

Winter. She’s a renegade.  

 Don’t expect you know what to expect. 

 She would attempt to hide progress, 

to hide our passionate work and its fruitage.   

She doesn’t invite us into the house; 

she sends us in, 

expecting us to use all our resources to survive.  

Winter does not want to loosen her grasp.   

She fights it with surprising ice storms, 

thunder with snow, 

strong, cold winds toppling garbage barrels and stripping pine cones from boughs. 

 Yet Spring, like a seasoned rock-climber, 

makes smooth, slow, but powerful moves forward. 

 She is cautious, determined, experienced; 

she knows she’ll arrive. 

She seems to love

              the challenge. 

Like a fisherman with a trout on the end of a line...

she toys with it, lets it think it’s getting away,

but reels it back in.  

 I don’t like that one bit. 

 She teases me with the possibility

that summer could get here by "overnight express."   

Challenges are like that. They are like Spring. 

What I need to understand ...

usually comes more slowly,

 by "special delivery."

 Sometimes I have to be very patient, 

discover that I need to see things from a different perspective, 

be more forgiving, 

be more patient, 

be more compassionate, 

be more willing to see the good in everything, 

be more willing to trust that what is spiritual 

is powerfully true and dependable.  

That awakening,

like Spring, 

needs nurturing, practice, patience, and then…

…with lessons learned …

 I am invited outside again.