A reflection on change in the seasons of Life By Rev Dr Judith Silva DMIN

We are entering the season of fall 2008 in this month of September 2008.  Fall is a time when the summer ends and there
are changes on many levels. These changes include the weather; we go from the warm summer to the more mild cooler weather of the fall. Many of us do not like to see the summer end because we can no longer have summer vacations, family reunions, barbecues and all the summer activities that the summer brings. However, with the coming of the fall we are afforded the opportunity to have a new beginning. 
Fall brings with it new activities but also more familiar old ones. For children fall, marks going back to school. For college age students it brings starting new with leaving the familiarity of high school friends, location and teachers to meeting new friends, locations and places. For parents the fall season can bring new challenges of finding daycare for after school, buying clothes for children to go to school in, parent teacher conferences, orientations and all the other changes that go along with the start of a new school year. For the parents of college age children it may signal the empty nest syndrome as they watch their young children become young adults as they leave home. It can be a change and transition for the whole family, whether young or old.
As I reflected on this time of year and the season of new beginnings, I thought about the opportunities that change brings amidst all of the challenges of life that go on. In life, we would rather be comfortable with things remaining the same. It is difficult to change but the Creator with the approach of the new season reminds us that life does not stay still but that as the environment changes from one season to another, we also change from one day to another.  We all aim to reach our potential and be all that we can be in life. When we face new beginnings whether a new business venture, a move, starting a new job, having a baby, getting married, aging, buying a house, leaving an old job, beginning college or graduating from college, we tend to want to cling to the more familiar and resist change.
 I would like you to think about the rewards and benefits of what change can bring about in your life.  We do not forget the past but we take from the past what is of value and move forward with the hopes and expectations of the new opportunities changes in life will bring.
In life, we have to keeping moving forward. We are not the same person that we were yesterday and we have to embrace the new person that we are becoming. So many times in life, people feel stagnant and frustrated because of not reaching the goals, which they aimed for or set to achieve.  Or they are not patient with the time it may take to reach goals and aspirations that they set for themselves. If we think about the athletes who have just finished competing in the Summer Olympics in China, and those who have won gold, silver or bronze medals, discipline and change was needed to reach their aspirations. All of us are on a spiral to make changes in our lives and in our communities. We want to be a better person than we were yesterday and become the best person that we can be today.
We can remember the past and those things that have happened in previous years like the 911 bombing in NYC on September 11, 2001 and the tragedy of it all. We move forward and look at the strength of the human spirit despite great tragedy, people were able to go on with life and continue to strive despite the losses they encountered. It is this spiritual dimension of  the human spirit and change that I would like to challenge you to think about as you face  changes at this time and season of your life in fall of 2008. The choice is yours as the summer season ends and the fall begins, will you hold onto the past or move forward? Take time to think about the new changes that you would like to make and how you can prepare yourself for them. The new season brings with it new opportunities and growth than can help you to become the person that the Creator intended you to be in this season of your life.  Let’s Celebrate the New beginning that the Creator will bring into your life during this season of change.

To everything, there is a season and a time for every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down, and a time to build up;
 A time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a Time to refrain from embracing:
A time to gain, and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to throw away
 A time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Ecclesiastes 3 v. 1-8 

Posted by Funtimes magazine at 2/2/2009 11:21 AM
Categories: Religion, Philosophy
 

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