Seasons

Winter is almost upon us again. Yes, I know, the calender says not until December, but in reality we're supposed to be in line for rain this weekend, and as my rule of thumb goes here, if it's not done by 10/31, it won't be done until Spring.

Something which we seem to have lost in modern society is this idea of the rhythm of the seasons. Beyond climate control and changing one's garments for the temperature, there is little sense of the fact that things change, that the seasons really are different with different things going on. Think on times before every kind of food was available every day of the year: there was a reason that oranges were associated with Christmas gifts (that's when they were available) and tomatoes with summer.

We are, I think, the poorer for it. Why? Because it has severed a link that we had with the world around us, a sense of being attuned to the creation of God -and the Creator, and the wonders (and perils) of the world He set into being. Instead, we essentially become our own little creators, making insulated pockets of what we feel our world should be - and not only physically, but spiritually and intellectually as well.

The thing we forget - to our peril - is that our pockets of physical control are really at the mercy of the real creation and the real Creator, and can be eliminated very easily. Anyone who has seen the outcome of any natural disaster understands this - and yet, for the most part, folks go blithely on, perhaps with the assumption that "it will never happen to me".

For perspective - this weekend, take five minutes outside of things, and go outside and just listen - listen to the creation tell you about its Maker.