Here in the Philippines, we only experience two seasons–rainy and dry. However, we know that in many parts of the world, people experience four seasons. Fred Craddock describes the four seasons this way: “The spring of the year! The world is a poem of light and color. The meadow is green and turns somersaults of joy. All the butterflies flutter from the buttercups, and it is beautiful. But it does not stay long.
“It gets hot, everything turns brown. The grasshopper drags himself along. Cracks appear in the parched earth. Those heat waves come up from the highway. And everybody is tinkering with the air-conditioning. But it does not last long.”
“The cool breezes blow, and the school bell rings, and leaves turn to flame. The days grow short; the football is kicked into the air, and the referee blows the whistle. It’s the fall of the year, but not for long.
“For the leaves are bitten from the trees, and piled in a heap against the back of a fence. And the bony, naked fingers of the trees pray for cover now. Then down from God’s mercy comes a blanket of snow. And the flying cloud and the frosty light, and the year’s dying in the night, and someone says, ‘Happy New Year!’”
Dr. Paul Tournier, a Swiss Christian doctor, in one of his books tells us that our lives has its seasons which may be compared to the seasons of the year. There is childhood — springtime; youth and young adulthood — exuberant summer; the autumn of maturity; and the winter of aging.
Each of us is born into the world with the expectation of spending the whole year here, and experiencing all of its seasons. But some live only through the springtime, some enjoy the excitement of summer, some get to see the turning of the leaves in the mellow time, still others stay until the snow blankets the ground.
The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes talks also about seasons: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted…a time to mourn and a time to dance.”
Last Thursday was All-Saints Day, a time when we remember loved ones who died. People usually go back to their hometowns to visit graves of loved ones.
As we remember those who died, we know that death is part of life. The scripture says, “For what is your life? It is but a vapor that soon passes quickly away.”
When ancient Egyptian priests held a banquet, a large mummy was often carried into the feast chamber and propped up at the table where all the priests could see it. It was placed there as a reminder that even while at pleasure, death was ever near.
Death may be part of our lives. It may signify the end of our earthly life. But then for every ending, there is always a beginning. Jesus in the gospel of John said: “Because I live, you also will live.” (John 14:19b)
Reuel Howe had a friend who had terminal cancer. Howe went to visit his friend one day, not knowing what to say. He was amazed to find the friend in control of himself. The friend told Howe: “When I began to work through this experience, I made an amazing discovery. And it is this: ‘For every exit, there is an entrance.’ All the way through my life, I have been having to give up things in order to get things. I’ve had exits in order to get entrances. I had to give up something in order to go to school. I had to give up something in order to take a job. I had to give up single life in order to get married. All the way through my life, I’ve died a hundred deaths. I have had to die for something in order to get something new and better. For every exit, there is an entrance. And death is one more exit to that — which is more.”
Yes, the death of our loved ones, and our death is an exit to a life with better opportunities and new beginnings.
But that is not all. The scripture has good news for those of us who are living. For us who are still on a journey through the seasons of life and who have lost loved ones, it may be a journey that is sometimes rough.
There might be some potholes on the way. There are some stormy nights that await us at certain parts of our journey. We may have to go through valleys of dark shadows.
But the good news is that our God, whose love is steadfast, will walk with us and carry us through.
You probably will not recognize the name Margaret Rose Powers but more than likely you have read her famous poem Footprints. In a Guideposts article, she told the story behind her famous poem:
In the summer of 1964, Margaret was 20 years old and was recovering from meningitis on the family farm in Tillsonburg, Ontario. She was confined to bed for most of the summer. It was a difficult time for her, she writes, “I’ve never felt so empty and afraid.” One August evening, she wrote in her diary, “Lord, have You left me, too?”
An unusual chain of events took place. Her brother invited her out to dinner hoping to cheer her up. On her way, they ran into one of his friends who asked to join them. Later, the man who joined them for dinner, Paul, would ask Margaret out on a date. Months later in early autumn, Paul asked Margaret to marry him. They went for a walk along the shore of Lake Erie. “The waves hissed into bubbles at our feet,” she recalled. “Paul stopped suddenly and pointed back at our tracks in the sand. ‘See our footprints, Margie? On the day we marry, they will become like one set, not two.’”
That night, the image of footprints stayed with Margaret. She could not sleep, so she began writing in her diary. “Dear Lord, I finally prayed, where are You now, when I need you so badly?”
Then, as if in a dream, she writes, “I saw a story unfolding in my mind’s eye. My pen took over as I began writing it out. I saw myself walking along a beach with the Lord, and scenes from my life flashed before us. But during the most painful scenes, I noticed only one set of footprints was left in the sand. I asked the Lord where He had been when I needed him most. Then I wrote down His reply: “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you. When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”
Today we still grieve for losing our loved ones, and our lives are never the same. But we grieve not as those who have no hope, for we find peace in the nearness and presence of God in the unknown tomorrows.
An old saint of God once prayed, “Oh God, help me to understand that you won’t let anything come my way that you and I can’t handle together.” That is the truth to live by and trust in.
We who are left can go forward to live courageously and victoriously because we have a man of all seasons who promised us: “Because I live, you too shall live.” And “I will never leave you nor forsake you… I am with you to the end of the world… My peace I give unto you… Let not your heart be troubled; neither let them be afraid.”
