I’m still here.   It’s been quite some time since my last post but I have not fallen off the face of the planet. So if the possibility that I had fallen off the face of the planet was cause for celebration for you please forgive me for pooping your party.   It’s good to be back….

As I was driving into my office today I was excited to see some eager farmers taking to the fields in their combines to extract the first bushels of granular gold of the season.   It takes me back twenty something years to a time when I used to help my father-in-law gather his crops (at least I think I was helping).   I loved to run the combine.   There was something that felt so good as I watched the treasure pour into the hopper of the big red IH.   The other great thing that harvest meant was that fall was just around the corner.   I love the fall.   Actually, I love the seasons – all four of them.   Fall is my favorite for about a gazillion reasons – cooler temps, vivid color, deer stands, pumpkin pie and the first whispers of smoke from the chimney of our wood stove on cool mornings.   I also like winter.   It’s crisp.   I love that.   And there is a beauty unique to this relatively monochromatic season.   I love winter sports like ice fishing and snowmobiling.   I love spring for the freshness of its outlook – new beginnings.   Something of a resurrection as the world snaps back to life.   And who doesn’t love summer ( I love it least but I love it nonetheless)?   Yep, the seasons are awesome.   Each in its own unique way.  

I lived in the Napa Valley in California for a few years.   When I tell people that, they usually look at me funny and ask why in the name of common sense I would have ever moved back to Illinois.   I usually tell them it was because I missed bugs and humidity.  

Don’t misunderstand, the Napa Valley is beautiful.   You should visit sometime. I enjoyed the diversity of the California landscape.   Of course we were surrounded by grapes in The Valley and even in the non-growing months the vineyards were gorgeous – glowing a brilliant yellow because of the mustard that grew between the rows.   And when the crush was on the fragrance of the freshly pressed wine filled the entire region.   It’s truly impossible to describe.  

We lived just an hour or so from the majestic redwoods and a drive of just a half-hour more would put us at the ocean and the rugged beauty created from its untamed surf.   It seemed like every day was sunny and 85 degrees.   Paradise some would say.   Me… meh.   I missed the seasons.   I longed for the cool colors of a Midwest fall.   I dreamed about my nose hairs freezing in the winter.   So much so that usually a couple times a year I would hop a plane and head “home” to hunt or fish and generally re-acquaint myself with America.   My years in California were good years, but I am where I belong – where there are seasons.

The journey of life takes us through “seasons” too, you might say.   I am at the end of a particularly challenging season in my life.   Some seasons are like that – challenging.   Others are marked by great success or growth.   Each season of life tends to be different than the last.   Sometimes the spontaneity and unpredictability drives us nuts, especially if we’re a little OCD or a control freak. Guilty as charged.

But, I think the diversity is a gift.   What a bummer it would be if we were subjected to the monotony of the same sort of season over and over again.  No.   God is good to us in that regard.  

As I near the end of a difficult season I can see hope rising on the wings of the next.   And what is super encouraging to me is that my approach to what I am anticipating will be a great season ahead is informed by the knowledge I have gained as I have struggled through the season that is now drawing to a close.   Again, God is good that way.   Only He has the power and the wisdom to redeem elements of difficult and painful life circumstances and leverage them for His glory and my good.   I love that about God.   His well-chronicled ability to do such a thing gives me the strength and courage to face the disappointments of life head on.   I have said often about the hardest things I have faced in life that I would not wish them on my worst enemy but I wouldn’t trade them for the world.  The lessons, though often learned in life’s crucible, are too valuable.

So bring on the seasons!   Each different in some way than the last, and each used by God to move me just a little closer to the Me of My Dreams….