BIAY - Joshua 23:14 - Seasons

I was so excited to finish my most recent four seasons series.  I took the first one (bottom left) last summer and then followed up with autumn, winter, and then spring just a few days ago.  But there’s something about seeing this same path in four different seasons - the fullness of summer, the brightness of autumn, the emptiness of winter, and then emergence of Spring - that just deeply speaks to my soul.  I feel peaceful when taking these in as each reminds me that there is a time for every season and that no moment is forever.  

This morning, I read a line in Joshua 23:14 that spoke to this.  Joshua is nearing the end of his life and he says to the people, “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth” as he then proceeds to exhort the Israelites about staying faithful to God.  But that line...about to go the way of all the earth...I just love the way that it speaks to the cycle of life - Joshua was born, he grew, he lived, he died.  Birth, life, death, and (in hope) resurrection.  Just like these seasons, a time when all is emerging, is in fullness, in transitioning, and then into the emptiness of winter.  

Earlier in the week, Richard Rohr’s daily email quoted Archbishop Desmond Tutu when he wrote about a visit with other church leaders...

We met at a theological college that had closed down because of the government’s racist policies. During our discussions I went into the priory garden for some quiet. There was a huge Calvary—a large wooden cross without a corpus, but with protruding nails and crown of thorns. It was a stark symbol of the Christian faith. It was winter: the grass was pale and dry and nobody would have believed that in a few weeks’ time it would be lush and green and beautiful again. It would be transfigured.

It would be lush and green, but a few months after that it would begin the next transition into a new season.  

The Archbishop continued:

The principle of transfiguration says nothing, no one and no situation, is “untransfigurable,” that the whole of creation, nature, waits expectantly for its transfiguration, when it will be released from its bondage and share in the glorious liberty of the children of God, when it will not be just dry inert matter but will be translucent with divine glory. . . .

All this is being shared in the season of resurrection and I am grateful for this season and for all the others that are still to come.