Every Season

. . . Still I notice You and how You make me new with every season's change . . .

. . . . And so it will be, as You are re-creating me; summer, autumn, winter, spring. . . .

Ok, so I have a confession, I love Nicole Nordeman. I bought her cd "Wide Eyed" as a a teenager and loved it! I kind of took a break from her untill her "Brave" cd came out.  When I was a teenager, a family friend (who I'm sure had the best of intentions) gave me one of those "WOW" cd's and it had one of her newer songs on it; the lyrics above are from her song Every Season.  Somewhere along the line I read an article about that song, Ms. Nordeman (who writes almost all of her own music) stated that she wrote this song in a very dark place, someone close to her had passed and she was having difficulty seeing God in anything as a result.  The song takes the listener throughout each season and how nature reflects on our lives, it's quite beautiful, but the song and the interview never really hit me untill today.

God is a great comforter and by His mercy I am healing . . . however, I still think of H every day . . . even when I'm not intentionally doing so.  When I'm running I push myself to go that extra quarter mile, inspired by the girl who against all odds made herself a runner to raise money and hope for a dying friend.  When I'm in worship a song will be played that Heather loved and I can't help but break down and cry.  In addition, I live on Long Island, which for the past three months or so has been a very cold, snowy place.  If you don't live in a snowy place you might romanticize it; yes, snow is beautiful, it's white, it makes things look clean and bright.  But the cold and the darkness of winter can creep in if you let it even to the crevices of your heart.

Yes, winter has been a difficult one, to loosely quote Ms. Nordeman,

"Everything in time and under heaven finally falls asleep,
Wrapped in blankets white, all creation shivers underneath,
And still I notice You when branches crack and in my breath on frosted grass,
Even now in death You open doors for life to enter, You are winter."

Heather died in winter . . . it seems so appropriate that she would.  Heather was the opposite of winter and so I think that it's some kind of poetic justice that we be allowed to grieve her death and look forward to being reunited as we mourn winter and look forward to spring.  And spring . . . I have hope because spring is coming. :-) I know that this is momentary, that with seasons come change, and I am thankful that my God has not forgotten me but brings the promise of a new day, the promise of a new season, and in this case the promise of spring . . .

"And everything that's new has bravely surfaced teaching us to breathe,
For what was frozen through is newly purposed, turning all things green,
So it is with You and how You make me new with every season's change,
And so it will be as You are recreating me; summer, autumn, winter, spring."

Spring, we are waiting with anticipation for the snow to melt away and for Your warm touch to cover our part of the earth again.