rhythm of seasons

Winter was late this year. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the unusually warm weather and didn’t miss shoveling snow. It was fun to go out caroling and not worry about freezing. But, I’ll admit that I missed having a white Christmas. When the radiant coppers of fall faded to washed out browns, the dull landscape made me feel tired and trapped. Yes, even I the great hater of winter was happy to see those white flakes falling silently last week.

Somehow, I felt alive again.

It felt like everything was right again in the world. I mean as right as icy walkways and below freezing temps can be. But it was like it all made sense again.

I grew up in a state that doesn’t really have seasons. Things pretty much stay green unless there’s a drought and the only indicator you have it’s winter is it gets grey, foggy and rainy. Yet everything still blooms. Fall is only recognized by the return to school and the sudden appearance of parking lot pumpkin patches. Spring is a bit more noticeable because the cherry trees blossom into round puffs of pink flowers. But much of everything else is still the same. Alas, this is life in a temperate climate.

Since coming back to the land of my grandparents in 2006, I’ve come to really enjoy the changing seasons. Winter is not my favorite and I despise the muddy, slushy mess of spring, but I love the seasons. It seems like just as you grow weary of one, the next one arrives. There’s a point at the end of every summer where I’m just ready for sweaters and pumpkins. And there’s a point every winter where my toes actually ask if they can be freed from socks.

Really, they do.

Sure, sometimes a season over-stays its welcome. Those September school days when it’s in the upper 80s are rough. And when it snows on Mother’s Day, I’m a little peeved. Okay, a lot peeved. But on the whole, seasons end right on time. Just like they should.

Our homeschools — and motherhood — have seasons too.

It’s easy to wish the hard seasons away. But, what if every season were truly easy? What if every lesson in every subject made perfect sense and offered only perfect, concise, usable knowledge? What if every chore magically got done and we never fell behind? What if you never had to determine which curriculum or philosophy was the right fit for you, but instead every curriculum and philosophy worked? I mean, this all sounds kind of glorious, especially if you’re in a hard season right now.

But the reality is, we’d get bored, our kids would be bored. Life would be like a poorly written fairy tale where everything is always perfect. Imagine dancing around like Julie Andrews singing “the hills are alive” every day because your life was just so darn perfect.

No, thank you.

Likewise, if it was always hard, like every minute of every day filled with struggle with no end in sight, we’d simply give up. We’d be discouraged and unmotivated. So would our kids and husbands. It would be more depressing than Wall-E.

And so we learn to embrace the rhythm of seasons.

It’s a dance, you know. One step this way, another step that way. A twisted ankle here, a perfect twirl over there. We learn to follow this rhythm, this syncopated dance of nature and time, throughout our lives. Trudging through difficult to get to the beautiful. Climbing up rocky, slippery slopes where we lose our footing and hold on for dear life just to make it to the top where the air is clear, the sky is brilliant and the view takes your breath away.

This is homeschooling. A little hard, a little easy, and all of it beautiful.

I don’t know what’s hard for you right now. Maybe the curriculum isn’t working. Or maybe there’s behavior issues running you down. Sickness, job changes, puberty. I don’t know what it is, but I know that it won’t last forever. Eventually, you’ll walk — or maybe crawl — out of this rough season into a new one where there’s beauty. Just keep at it, Mama. One day at a time. One lesson at a time. This season will give way to blessing. It may seem late and may be hard-fought, but it will come.

And if you’re one of the lucky ones enjoying a beautiful season of blessing, be grateful. Savor every gorgeous moment. Relish in it. Ponder it in your heart. Write it in your journal. Take pictures. Commit it to memory because when the beauty fades, these memories will remind you that it will be beautiful again.

Where-ever life finds you this week, remember it won’t last forever. Tomorrow is another day and seasons change.

Come back next time when we talk about what happens when we don’t change with the seasons and our blessings become bondage.