A couple of weeks ago, my wife, Kelly, and I traveled to Canada where she was born to visit her dad. We left Texas on an 80 degree afternoon, then flying high and northward, we touched down late in the evening in Alberta shivering, the thermometer’s mercury near the freezing mark. The following day dawned frigid, but beautiful. The leaves of the trees both inside a beautiful park in Calgary, and later in the mountains outside the city were in the process of turning—crisp reds, bright oranges, and spectacularly vibrant golds.
Texans often say we’re season-deprived, which is to say that a year, especially one spent along the Gulf Coast, seems mostly composed of summer weather. There’s early summer. Summer. And then there’s late summer. Sure there are marginally cooler periods in the early spring and late fall, and a few cold snaps during the deep winter months, but because a true autumn experience in the Lone Star State is hard to come by, this quick trip up north reminded me in a most impressive fashion how the seasons really do turn, and turn in a beautiful ways, in climes farther from the equator.
A little reminder from middle school science class here: We experience the seasons because Earth’s axis tilts an average of 23.5 degrees relative to its orbital plane as it encircles the sun. When the North Pole tilts toward the sun, it's summer in the Northern Hemisphere. When the South Pole is tilted toward the sun, it's winter in the Northern Hemisphere. But even when we’re not fully experiencing all four seasons in clearly perceptible and defined ways in locales like Texas, we can rest assured the Earth of course is nevertheless still moving, still tilting, still spinning, and still making its way reliably around the sun each year.
That the seasons inevitably change and change and change even when we don’t quite feel them doing so is a good thing to remember not just in an astronomical sense, but in a more general way, as well. As the Stoic philosopher and emperor, Marcus Aurelius, put it, “Everything is only for a day.”
When we’re flying high sometimes it’s hard to imagine things will evolve away from this, our preferred status. We think things will go on like they are forever in more or less a straight line. We think we’ll always be on top. Other times, when things are going poorly, it’s hard to imagine they’ll ever get better and improve. We can’t picture things ever turning and going the way we want. But just as the world travels in its relentless orbit around our sun, and just as the seasons are always evolving and changing, so do events all around us.
If things are going your way, don’t take it for granted. In fact, when things are coming up roses for us is when we should make a special effort to remember to be kind, encouraging rather than antagonizing those whose outlook and situation may be darker at the moment. And of course when things aren’t going our way, it’s important to recall that nothing ever stays the same. The worm will turn and every dog will have its day.
In a little different way, perhaps more obliquely, one of the most famous passages in the Bible tells us this very thing.
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted…A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance… A time to get, and a time to lose.
If Ecclesiastes tells us there are times and seasons for each of these diametrically opposed things, the wisdom that stands behind this truth should guide us to find a measure of peace and equanimity in any circumstance. The word ‘circumstance’ itself, within its first two syllables, suggests to us and emphatically reminds us that it’s simply the nature of things to turn and turn, going round and round.
If your circumstances have brought you low, know that things will certainly and inevitably change. Take heart in this. Matters will improve as sure as the seasons come and go. As sure as our planet remains tilted at 23.5 degrees relative to its orbital plane.
Likewise, if you’re flying high in the present moment, give some thought to this truth also. Seasons change. Scripture tells us it is so. Everything is only for a day.
God—May I absorb the truth that all things change and shall continue to do so. May I be at peace with this. Amen.
