Spring and fall are those times of the year where the weather is in transition. They are balancing seasons between summer and winter, therefore the weather expresses warmer and colder days. Just a week ago I was basking in the sun on my balcony and we were eating outside, for one glorious day. And again the weather turned and we moved into colder, and yet colder blustery, and intermittently raining and windy days. All the way, the sun is persistent, telling us to not give up hope even as it journeys to the other side of the globe and we begin to feel its absence, only to have it return. I can hang on to the warmth, even as I move inward both spiritually and physically.
The lessons learned from the insistence of the weather is that everything changes, but amidst this change, there is an intelligent order to things. A retracting, growing shorter daylight that reflects a time of taking stock, looking at our home and even as we fluff the nest for winter we dispose of or put away the summer colors, clothes and things in favor of sweaters, long sleeves and layers. That crisp wind that carries leaves and the smell of smoke is a harbinger that as all as Game of Thrones fans are thinking now… winter is coming. And then the opposite. The shedding of layers, the lengthening of days and sunlight, the return of life in the trees and on the earth. The opening of windows to let the air in. Of our minds and hearts to let new opportunities take root.
Although in flux, we are guaranteed by the divine order of the universe that as surely as the earth orbits around the sun, our seasons in the hemispheres change, from falls past, we know that on the heels of fall is winter. The spring then summer. A whole wheel of the year. It’s about balance. The Taoist symbol of Yin/Yang says it all. Nothing moves in a straight line. Everything is circular, each part held in the wholeness of harmony. The seed of the opposite is found in each extreme, as the seed of winter is found in the summer, so again in reverse in the winter.
- Nothing is certain except change. Balance is born out of extremes. This means we can see progress, and then again feel frustrated with our progress and it can feel some days that we take two steps back for each step forward. Much like the story of Who Moved My Cheese? We are traveling the maze, in search of security, warmth and well, sustenance. All the while dealing with the fluctuations and winds of change.
- The changing of the seasons teach us how to have faith in times of Uncertainty. It’s cold, windy and wet right now, with the sun nowhere in sight. Yet just outside my window is a robin having a bath in the birdbath and the boughs on the tree outside are softened with little buds of green that promise of growth and renewal unfolding even when it feels like the opposite. Trust that things are never quite as they seem.