Seasons of Life

Right now God continues to work on my heart in regards to changes.  I look all around me and life is filled with them, some are much easier to face than others.  Yet God keeps reminding me that life here is filled with seasons -

Ecclesiastes 3:1-14
There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. ¹⁴ I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

I think in the last year I have experienced almost everyone of those seasons!  

  

As I was "chatting" with Hannah yesterday (meaning we were facebook chatting) I realized that even that relationship is in a new season.  She no longer needs my everyday input.  She is becoming a beautiful adult.  She is joining a new church today - the first time she has joined without her family.  She had a date last night - first date that her parents haven't first met the guy.  She is saving for a car (anyone have a dependable used car for sale - for cheap?).  She is already making payments on her student loans to avoid accumulated interest.  She handled all kinds of flight delays on her own in JFK when returning from Spain.  She isn't planning on coming back here for the summer and thus is looking for a full-time summer job and housing situation (anyone need a nanny or babysitter for the summer?).  

Change brings so many emotions - so many reactions - so many new dreams and yet closing the door on old dreams.  I am learning to live life a littler fuller everyday as I realize that tomorrow will be different.  I am learning to love a little deeper, but at the same time, I wonder, am I becoming like the typical third culture person who also holds back a little to protect my heart from changes.  Changes, hmm.. I still say "I hate changes!" and yet I am still learning to say "there is a season."