The Seasons of Life

Nature consists of four seasons: Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall. Each have different characteristics that makes them distinct from each other.

    In the Spring, we see new life and growth all around. Beauty abounds. Trees blossom. Flowers bloom. Animals are born. Life itself seems to take on a whole new definition.

    In the Summer, things continue to grow. Everything green and full of life in the Spring become even more green and full of life, if that's possible. Summer is a time for growth and development. Not only that, but it is also a time for the plants and trees to sink their roots deep into the soil, and soak up all the wonderful nutrients therein.

   Fall not only is a time for preparation, but it is also a time for self-examination. During this season, plants examine and prepare their roots to make sure they are firmly rooted in the soil. Animals take time to prepare and focus on storing their food. They make sure all preparations are made for the winter ahead. Fall is a time for examination and preparation.

  Winter, although beautiful by its own right, is a time of testing and trial for the growth and preparation that has been taking place all year long. It is a time for plants to see if their roots have truly sunk deep into the soil, and for animals to rely on the food that they have been storing up. Rather than a time for growth, it is a time for testing, stretching, learning, and experience.

   Our life follows this pattern pretty much to a T. Specifically, I wanted to relate it to us in a spiritual sense, and the phases that that takes.

In the Spring, we see new life and growth all around. Spring is the season of life. For those of us who have just begun life spiritually, it is a time of great rejoicing. We have finally begun to find the way, and just as it says in the scriptures, we become “new creatures” (2 Cor. 5:17).

       For those who are continuing on the path of life, it is a time to take a breather after a sometimes long and drawn-out winter of a trial. We can finally begin to put forth our flowers of growth, and look forward to the fruit ahead. We replenish, rejuvenate, and, as in all seasons, we find great joy.

       For both “new” and “old” in the Gospel, we take those much needed moments of study, pondering, and prayer. This is a time to strengthen our testimonies, replenish our spiritual reservoir, and express gratitude to our Heavenly Father for helping us make it through.

In the Summer, things continue to grow...it is also a time for the plants and trees to sink their roots deep into the soil, and soak up all the wonderful nutrients therein. Summer is a time for continuation of growth and development. We continue to study, ponder, and pray. Unlike Spring, Summer is the time for harvest. It is a time when the fruits of our labors ripen, and are ready to be plucked. It is a time when we can feast!

   Feasting entails not just merely skimming through the scriptures now and again, and once in a while saying a half-baked prayer that might reach the ceiling at best; rather, it means taking time away from our busy life, and our long lists of things-to-do, and sinking our teeth deep into the words of Christ, feasting upon them, and enjoying a whole array of delicious truths, and sumptuous and plentiful revelations. It means spending time for tender and personal communication with our Heavenly Father. It means sinking our roots as deep as we can into the nutrient-rich soil of the Gospel, and soaking up the abundance of minerals and nutrients therein.

    Fall not only is a time for preparation, but it is also a time for self-examination. Fall is a time to check our roots, our spiritual "food and water storage", and to closely examine our spiritual reservoir. We know trials will be ahead, and we know we are going to need to be prepared for them. When that testing comes, are we prepared? Will we be equipped and ready enough to rely on our Savior, come thick and thin? Will we have enough oil in our lamps? These our questions we all need to ask, and this is definitely the time to ask them. In essence, it is a time to ponder and to take valuable moments of introspection, 
preparation, and self-examination.





    Winter...is a time of testing and trial for the growth all around us... Rather than a time for growth, it is a time for testing, stretching, learning, and experience. When the storms of winter come, when the chill wind blows, it is a time to truly see if we are prepared. By now, preparation time is over, and testing time begins. Our trials will either make, or break us. Through Christ, they will always make us. Without Him, they very often break us. He will help us through the winters of our lives. He will be there to succor us in our time of need. The question is, do we know how to seek Him? Is our faith where it needs to be in order for us to do so? Have we taken the time and effort to build up a relationship with Him, that we might weather the storms that will inevitably come our way? Ultimately, the trials and testing of Winter will stretch us, teach us, and give us experience. 

 

   
    And then finally, we return full circle, right back where we started: back to Spring. The storms and trials are over for a season. We can breathe again. Life is renewed, and we again taste of the sweet joy of peace that comes. We are renewed, and because of the stretching and testing we have experienced, our growth can extend beyond what we would have been able to before.

 


    And thus our life continues in this cycle from the life and growth of Spring, to the growth and harvest in the Summer, to the time of preparation in the Fall, to the testing and stretching in the Winter, and finally back to renewed life and growth in the Spring. While this cycle will continue this way throughout our life, we decide whether it is an upward, or a downward cycle. And that choice is primarily based on if we choose Christ.