The Winters of My Life

Like most people I have been to hell and back in my life. In all honesty, I was the cause of much of my difficulties most of the time, and sometimes someone else was the culprit. Yet, I would not trade my personal sojourns through hell for anything, for each experience taught me lessons that helped me grow and become the better person I am today.

I have always pictured those challenging times as the winters of my life; the season where what came before is in the process of dying in order to make way for the coming renewed life. That is what our lives are: a constant revolution of the four seasons of nature. Spring is everything new. Summer is adventure, discovery, and putting experience to the test. Autumn is taking what we have learned and experienced to build our future and build our security; it is also a time for benefiting others with the fruit of our life experience. Winter is the end days of our life cycle, the time to enjoy what is good, to despair over the opportunities missed (those "Could Have Beens,"), and the time to make peace with ourselves, our past, and those who were thorns in our sides. It is also the time when we find ourselves offering our hard-earned wisdom to those in our midst who are traveling through the first three seasons. Ultimately, we have one final winter, and that is our transition to that Great Unknown that lies beyond the horizon at our inevitable death. At that moment, somewhere a new child begins the Spring of their life while we cross over into our Spring in that new life God has promised. I look forward to that with both trepidation and hope.

To all I have hurt in some way, whether deliberately or by accident, I ask your forgiveness as I have done for those who have done the same to me. To those I have helped or encouraged, I ask you to do the same for others along your path. For winters have and will come your way, too; and someday that final winter will whisk you beyond this learning place we call earthly life.

Don't be afraid or despondent in your winters; they are necessary and you will find yourself grateful for them in your summers and autumns.

Peace be with you. Thank you for visiting.