Long Days, Summer Evenings

Life is certainly different in summer than it is in winter! For those of you who have spent your lives with changing seasons, this has become the norm. For us who have spent most of our lives in the tropics, it is a miracle. From the cold, dark days of winter to the warm, sunny days of summer seems like an impossible journey. And yet it happens-- year after year, summer and winter, springtime and harvest. And it feels like a promise, a rebirth of hope, a reminder that the seasons of life also change.

When we moved in spring, we named our new place the house of new beginnings. And it has been just that. I'm not sure that the difference in houses or properties is so great, but where we are after 9 months in Canada is so very different. We have come so far in the last 9 months in adjusting to a new life, in building friendships, in our sense of what God is doing.

The change of seasons has also reminded me how different summer looks AFTER winter. In the tropics we lived in nearly endless sunshine, and it didn't strike me quite the same as this summer has. In fact, it became rather mundane and I felt the heat more than the wonder. So in our lives we appreciate beauty, grace, and mercy more when we realize we need it. God's mercies are new every morning, yet we can go through long stretches of time when we almost believe we deserve that new mercy.

Evenings are also a nearly constant reminder of the change.... 11 pm feels very late in winter, whereas in the height of summer it feels almost like early evening. Energy cycles change with the sun and our sense of time's passing is somehow tied into both. The warm days of summer make us feel alive and productive. The sun's light gives us strength to keep going... and so the Son's strength does also.

And we are thankful. Thankful to God who enables change and is always near, thankful to friends who have walked this difficult journey with us, and thankful that seasons do change!