Fall: Don’t Forget

I sat on the park bench watching. Watching my husband chase our three year old up and down the ramps and slides. Watching our one year old climb up and down the slide. Watching older kids run past shouting and laughing. Watching the overcast sky fade from pale grey to dark gray. The breeze was light, but just cool enough to feel that first hint of fall. Fall.

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I looked around, feeling that warm-but-not-hot air and the ever-so-slightly-cool breeze winding around me. I had forgotten.

In the long, hot months of Florida summer, I had forgotten that another season would come. And I had forgotten how wonderful it is when it does.

I sat there silently marveling. Marveling that somehow I could forget that summer would be over and the heat would fade and we could go outside in the evening into the most perfect weather. Marveling that I could somehow forget that the heaviness of summer heat and humidity would be replaced by the lightness of a cool sunny day. Marveling that we are there already, at that point in the year where we can feel the season changing. Heat to cool. Heavy to light. Summer to fall.

And I had forgotten.

But here we are. The first hints of the joy to come already showing up around me. And I as I sat breathing in the cool, light air around me, I felt a whisper in my heart that I’ve come to learn as His voice. ”Don’t forget what’s coming.”

Don’t forget what’s coming.

This season of life has been so long. It’s felt like the summer, hot and smothering and heavy, and to be honest, I’ve found myself forgetting. Forgetting that the season will change. Forgetting that although God allows us to walk through the valley, He will also lead us beside still waters. He will also restore our souls.

"Don’t forget what’s coming,” He whispered.

And to be honest, I can barely remember what a season of freedom in certain areas of life feels like, because this season has been long. So very long. But I know Whom I believe. Whether I remember what a change in season feels like or not, I will trust what He says. This year, as our environmental season shifts around me, I have a whole new reason for hope. Hope that this season of the soul is shifting too.