Looking Back/Looking Ahead

Today we saw our first snowflakes coming down on our deck.  For us Minnesotans we do enjoy our seasons and we treasure the nice weather when it arrives, be it so briefly.

In looking out over the railing, I see Anne’s flowers still struggling to survive the cold weather that has so recently arrived.  I am reminded that like our lives, we each have a season that comes upon us.  For some reading this blog, you are experiencing the spring of your life.  Each new day brings with it challenges that test your resolve as to whether you will accomplish the short range tasks that in turn will allow you to get to your goals that are in the distant future. 

For those of you that are in the summer of your lives, I imagine your days consist of raising your families and making it to the weekend, with all the challenges in between.  During this stage in our lives, it seems that the days are a blur; our children go from infant diapers to graduation in such a short time.  We wonder where the years have gone.  Our summers are much the same here in the North Country.  It seems that just yesterday it was spring and now we are in the throws of autumn, and winter is already knocking at our door.   For those of you that live in similar climates, one learns to appreciate each season that comes your way, especially when warm weather arrives.  Living here in Minnesota, we have about 5 months of snow and the rest of the year everything changes very quickly.   

Those of us that are in the winter of our lives, many are looking back much more of the time than  anticipating our tomorrows.  We think of the jobs we had, places that we lived in, and most importantly, the children we nurtured who are now raising families of their own.  We feel the aches when the change of weather comes and our old injuries sometimes come back to haunt us with sore joints and quickness of breath, when moving from place to place a little too quickly.  Sometimes we look back in regret with the choices that we have rendered, yet at the same time, feeling good about “right” decisions made, which now give us a sense of peace. 

In our humanity, we find a balance and realize that in some instances, as an individual, we learned so much more from the bad choices that we had made, even though the pain still lingers at times.  Somewhere in the midst of reviewing our lives, we reach a point of peace with our humanity.  We have come to realize that our Lord is much more forgiving than we are towards ourselves, and that in it self, brings us peace. 

This sense that Jesus allows us to start over and begin each day anew, helps us to see each morning as a new beginning.  A new day!  We then see the sun even though it refuses to shine, and experience a vigor that flows through our veins and gives us once again, the insight and delight of a child.