The Single Woman’s Dash of Sass: The Beauty of the Changing Seasons

Quote of the Day:

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1

“There is something of jubilee in the annual autumnal beginning, as if last year’s mistakes had been wiped clean by summer.” ~Wallace Stegner

“Of course, fall isn’t just about preparing for winter. It’s also about sitting on the patio in a worn wool sweater and warming your hands over the swirl of steam rising from a coffee cup. It’s about walking across a darkened yard and seeing a flight of geese cross the face of a full moon. It’s about settling in, relishing sights and sensations of a world slowing down.” ~Brent Olson

The Single Woman Says:

I am the first to admit that I am a summer baby. I adore summer and everything about it: Its relentless heat…the trips to the beach…the smell of suntan lotion hanging in the air…the bare feet and the bare skin and the tangled hair. I come alive in the summer. Everything feels more carefree and laid back and joyful, and the hotter it gets outside, the more energized I feel inside.

Because of my affinity for summer, I feel a growing sense of dread each year when I start to see “Back to School” signs creeping into my favorite stores. I resist the chill in the air by refusing to put away my summer clothes for as long as possible. Yes, the first leaves falling usually find my spirits falling right along with them.

But this year…something has changed.

It’s almost as though God has opened my eyes in a new way and for the first time, I am noticing things about fall that are simply magical. The brilliance of the orange and golden and crimson leaves…the crisp, clear nights…the comfort of a cozy sweater or a cup of cocoa. For the first time ever, I felt inspired to decorate my apartment for fall with pumpkins and scarecrows and autumn flowers. I am finally embracing fall for the beautiful, necessary change that it IS instead of resenting it for what it is NOT. In past years, I spent so much time and energy disliking fall because it marked the end of summer that I never took the time to look around and see that even though falls means that one chapter is over, it also means a whole new chapter is beginning. And isn’t this such a great metaphor for life? We get so comfortable in one season of life that when another one arrives, our arms are too busy clinging to the past to embrace the present. And in doing so, we miss out on a whole lot of beauty and joy and opportunities for happiness.

I want to encourage you today…whatever season you’re in on your side of the world, either literally or figuratively…embrace it. Don’t spend so much time longing and pining and wishing for days gone by that you miss out on the blessings that surround you this very moment. Every season brings with it its own unique gifts and lessons and magic, completely different from the season before. And, yes: “Different” can be scary, but it can also be new and exhilarating and breath-taking and life-changing. So instead of looking back today, keep your eyes on the road and look at fall as a magical beginning instead of a melancholy end. Because that’s the beauty of the changing seasons: You never know what’s around the next bend.