July 14, 2023
Seasons
Every climate has seasons. Some places may have more distinct seasons than others, but the passing of time is marked by seasons around the world. I grew up in the northern Allegheny mountains, which had delightful and sometimes cool springs and falls, pleasant summers, and rather “robust” winters. Living in the Midwest for a quarter century, I became accustomed to less rigor in the winters, but more heat and humidity in the summer, and greater unpredictability in the fall and spring. Southern California was delightful most of the time, and though it had seasons, they were less distinct and felt unfamiliar. Now home is the Pacific Northwest, where the seasons are both temperate and distinct, and in days like these—glorious.
Seasons have been used as an analogue for the stages of human life for millennia. We know the cycle well: springtime is the season of birth and early growth, summer is the season of youth and productivity, autumn is the season flourishing and maturity, which of course, transitions into winter being the season of diminishment and ultimately death. So it will be for most of us, I pray, that we will live through all of these seasons and the blessings and challenges they each contain.
But sometimes this predictable pattern is less reliable for some lives than others. Like the time I marched in the Memorial Day parade in my hometown with snowflakes in the air, sometimes life seasons don’t go according to plan. So it was for my father whose extended winter began when he was 48 and ended at 60. And so it is now for my oldest brother, Donald.
My brothers are about 9 and 10 years older than me. My middle brother, Dennis, was an engineer and then a corporate executive before he felt called to ministry in mid-life. He has now retired from his second career as a Methodist pastor. Some of you have met my older brother Don, as he has been with us the past two Christmases, a tradition I hope we can continue. But Don’s seasons have never been normal. Born with mental limitations, his springtime lasted longer than most, always having a childlike attitude about life and its simple pleasures late into his life. Though limited, Don was undaunted, accomplishing many things in his lifetime and always bringing joy to others as he did.
Unfortunately, Don appears to be showing signs of Alzheimer’s, the same malady that defined my mother’s winter season to its end. He lives with Dennis now, his wife (also a Sue) and her mother—going strong even as she nears her 100th birthday—and Susan and I will be visiting them in July. While we are there, Dennis and I will make plans for caring for Don in the winter he is now entering, however long it might last.
I mention all of this because we as a community are living through multiple seasons simultaneously. This is the sign we are a healthy, intergenerational community. And the more we, who are in our autumns and winters, can guide those in their springs and summers—even as our younger friends revive the warmer seasons of youth our bodies seem to have forgotten—the healthier we all become. Yet some of us find ourselves in seasons which seem out of place, often coming too soon. This causes us grief, for ourselves and others, and raises questions about God and God’s providence, just like it always has. Yet it also raises our compassion, care, and concern for our friends whose current life seasons raise challenges for them. This is also a sign of a healthy, intergenerational community.
In our church family, there are more than a few of us who are in the summer of their youth, reflecting our splendid Pacific Northwest summer days full of light and hope and possibilities. Others of us, however, are in cooler seasons of life. According to the wisdom in Ecclesiastes (3:1), there is a time and season for everything. But through every season, life in Christ is the path and the truth we follow (John 14:16). Might we in our current season of life companion others through whatever season they find themselves in, however warm, however chilly. Might we always find hope following the path of Christ in all seasons, who is the spring that follows every winter.
Blessings on you all in these summer days we all share.
~ Pastor Todd