"Music Monday" Is Back This Week...And Winter Begins Next Week!

As Fall gives in to Winter next week,

I thought I'd finally share this song that I have

wanted to share for months -- first back in Summer (missed my chance)

then for Fall (missed it again), so now here it is for you

as we enjoy our last week of Fall (which for some of you already

feels like Winter and for some of us still feels like Summer...). :)

As the earth has seasons, so our lives have "seasons", as well -- each one possessing it's own unique opportunities,

blessings, and challenges.

The longer I live, the more I know that more than anything, I want to enter (and exit)

each of life's "seasons" with much grace --

embracing and extracting each and every drop of life out of each and every minute of each and every season.

I loved Fall and I am very much looking forward to the turning of Winter next week --

and who knows what this season will bring --

but may each of us rise to every occasion and step up to each challenge with poise and grace, resting in the knowledge that each season --

whether on earth or in our lives --

builds on the next and we cannot enjoy of the blessing of the harvest without first the pruning and the tilling of the soil.

Pruning, tilling -- those are not the things in our life's season that typically bring us joy and smiles. They are the harder lessons, the tougher days that build the muscles of our character, and strength of our faith.

But without them (those harder times that till the soil of our heart and prune the deadwood in our lives) we would be bounty-less and fruitless. We wouldn't want that.

Even knowing this, still by nature we do often wish for only ease -- only the "good old days" that are all sunshine and roses.

It's a life-long struggle -- we want the character but not the trials that bring it.

I love a verse in Psalm 106, verse 15 that refers to God finally granting the wishes of those wandering in the wilderness, who were being fed manna from heaven but grumbled incessantly about it and were growing sick and tired of eating the same old thing day in and day out.

Sound familiar? Sure sounds like me at times!

He granted their wish for meat, but to their surprise the meat did not satisfy and it did nothing to nourish them. And funny thing, their grumbling did not stop once they got the very thing they were lusting after.

In fact, there seems to have been an emptiness and futility about their days.

Ouch... me again.

God granted their selfish desires, but He sent leanness to their souls.

What He wanted more than anything, was for them to simply trust Him, to be content with what He was feeding them (from heaven, no less!). But like whiney, gripey children, they wanted more -- something new and different.

Our seasons my change -- on earth, and in life -- and the things we become discontented with will change as we change.

And through it all there is that challenge to be still and be thankful for what He has provided to us.

That verse about leanness being a bad thing, has always struck a chord with me.

As women (myself leading the pack) we worry so much about fat and our weight and wanting to be thin (lean).

But in this one area -- we must desire fatness... this is one area of our lives we DO NOT want to be lean.

So, in each season of my life, may I enter

and exit it

with grace,

and more than anything,

may I remember to make choices

that will never bring leanness to my soul.

To live deliberately -- and eek out of every season all that God has packed into it just for me.

Just a little bit of what I get out of this beautiful song --

enjoy Fall's last week.

Winter -- here we come!!! :)

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