Each season brings its purpose
Each season brings its purpose, in life and out our front door. As I looked out my window two weeks ago, the trees were in full-on glorious color, more yellow than green. The bright colors were in that perfect in-between stage between summer and winter.
As the trees started to turn, I clung to every bit of the summer I could. But with each passing day, the colors are more muted and fewer leaves remain on the trees. And now, I know even saying goodbye to fall is inevitably close.
I love the future
I do like to move forward, value growth. Yet, I’ve never liked goodbyes, preferring to hold onto the present. This is part of my character, of who I am.
The past two years I’ve said goodbye to a lot. I left my job, kissed the forehead of my father as he breathed his last, and hugged my girls tightly as they flew our nest and created nests of their own.
Goodbyes are a natural part of life
Change happens. Life brings hurt, disappointment, sadness in circumstances both sudden and somewhat expected. Even happy things can be hard to bear for the change they bring.
Similar to trees, we go through seasons of change.
Nature leads the way
Trees go through an internal process as they change seasons. As trees prepare for winter, they stop producing chlorophyll (a bright green chemical used for photosynthesis). Other chemicals become more dominant, creating our rich fall colors. The trees gradually dehydrate to increase the concentration of sugar in their cells. This process readies the trees for winter, making them more resilient to freezing.
At the same time, the trees prepare to lose their leaves by growing scar tissue at the base of each stem. Once the connection between the leaf and the tree weakens, wind or gravity pull the leaf away.
Similarly, we have to let go before we move on
When we go through change, we also have internal work to do, a transition to make from our way of being before the change to our way of being after the change. Refer to last week’s blog post: Transitioning through change, for more thoughts on change versus transition.
If trees could speak and feel, I wonder if they’d acknowledge holding tightly to each leaf, just as I hang on to each experience. Sometimes you see some poor tree, with only two or three leaves, and the wind swirling those little leaves. I just imagine that tree saying, “no, I’m not ready to let go.”
But transformation happens only if we let go
Change almost always changes us. But transformation happens best, it seems, when we embrace the process.
A tree, rooted to the ground, has no choice but to accept change. It’s a natural process. And, in winter this tree looks majestic. Such beautiful bones I see in the tree as the snow covers her branches. The little tree, going through its first winter so bravely. The middle tree, with more branches and branches branching into more branches. And the mature trees, thick and solid, gnarly and full of character.
Each season brings its purpose.
And when we slow down to recognize a deeper purpose, we ourselves become transformed in a positive way. The process of changing and growing transforms us — but we have to be awake to the transition. Only when we surrender, do we find our renewed purpose.
May you find new purpose in the changing season. May you say goodbye gently, settle into a new rhythm, and find beautiful seasons ahead. And always, may you know that you are loved, completely, by our Creator, right where you are today.
