September is here.... It's spring time in South Africa and about to be autumn here in The United States...

Two of my favourite seasons!!!!

Autumn, is interchangeably known as fall in North America, it is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter, when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier and the temperature cools considerably. Autumn, when all the colors transition levels of reds and browns and become crisp. One of its main features is the shedding of leaves from deciduous trees. DECIDUOUS means "Falling off at Maturity".... or "tending to fall off", and it is typically used in order to refer to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally (most commonly during Autumn) and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe. In a more general sense, deciduous means "the dropping of a part that is no longer needed" or "falling away after its purpose is finished". In plants it is the result of natural processes.

Spring and "springtime" refer to the season, and also to ideas of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, resurrection and regrowth. Spring is when weather can be considered as absolutely perfect because you still have the crisp chill left over from winter, yet you also get to see more flowers popping up here and there. (Information from the Internet)

So here in lies the beauty of these two seasons for me. One so vividly shows the dying (not negatively but) into maturity and then the other depicts rejuvenation, resurrection and rebirth.

There cannot be Spring without Autumn. But the cold of winter comes in between these two seasons. Winter is the coldest of the four seasons, often winter is as cold as death. When I think of this cold i think of grieving, I think of black clothing, symbolizing death and mourning in different parts of the world. Mourning comes with 5 different stages; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Stages in mourning you have walk through. The difference between seasons and mourning is that that with seasons you know that months later this is going to be over and you look forward to the next season. But with mourning, there is no time frame, a required patience is needed. Mourning takes the life out of us and its not until we surrender and come to the acceptance of the death that we can move on. Let's talk about the dying for a minute. We often think of death as such a negative thing. Yes death is painful, sometimes it comes from a long struggle with suffering so there's almost an expectation that at some point this is going to end. Other times death comes unexpectedly. You have no preparation, no idea or expectation. It comes suddenly, without warning! Death is tragic!

However when we break this down, we realize that sometimes dying has to occur for life to begin again.

In the case of autumn, death is described as

"Falling Off at Maturity" (when it is ripe, falling away when it's purpose is finished).

In a 12 month period, seasons are split up into 3 months each. Each season represents something different needed for the the year to be complete. This is something we struggle to work with in life. We do not know when it's time to end seasons. We fail to "fall off at maturity", we want to change color and stay right there where we are but we do not fall. Essentially we do stay in place, we die, then become shriveled up stuck on a branch that can no longer produce life for us. The only way we can grow again is if our seed falls to the ground, mixes with the earth(dirt, dust) and only when the rain comes do we have a chance for, rebirth, rejuvenation, and resurrection.

I thought it would be cool doing this blog on two of my favourite seasons, playing on the words and timezones, but after my research i'm sitting here kicked in the butt with the reality that dying has to occur.

As painful as it is, Dying is necessary. How many of us are Stuck somewhere on a branch that we should've fallen off from a long time ago?

Afraid to die and yet we are already dead, not knowing that all we we have to do is fall off to live again….

Dying is a part of the natural process, but it becomes harder for us when we have not mastered the art of dying to self daily… A challenge we could all apply to our daily journey. Then we are more equipped when seasonal changes come, dying becomes more of a necessity rather than a disaster. Luke9:23 (thanks to my sister Krystle for this thought)

In closing...

Ecclesiastes 3 is powerful in both the MSG & AMP versions. Read the full chapter if you can.

Ecclesiastes 3Amplified Bible (AMP)

1 To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven: 2 A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted, 3 A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, 4 A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,5 A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 6 A time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away, 7 time to rend and a time to sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak,

8 A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

So here i am God.
Challenged to die again and ready to live again in full blossom.

Help me to embrace the Autumn of my life so that i may get to the spring without interruption.

That I may bloom in due season.