“I imagine folks in your part of the world are sad about the loss last night. My favorite part of sports, though, is that there is always another season to look forward to (the mantra that allowed me to grow up as a red sox fan without slumping into depression every October…)!”
My nephew left this comment the other day on my post “Sports and the Narrative of Life”. What deep wisdom he voiced in the phrase “Always another season…”All week I have thought about this phrase – There is always another season of sports. There is always another season of fashion. There is always another season for the ballet, for theatre, for Pottery Barn’s decor.
King Solomon, renowned throughout the ancient world for his wisdom, speaks to this in Ecclesiastes in the Bible. The old but well-known words “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 kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh….” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-4) never fail to make me pause. Whenever I read them I feel a hope spring up – looking to a new season keeps hope alive. Even as the cold and grey of winter is heavy in February there is hope, always hope, in the spring that will follow.
I have no idea what season you are in. It could be a season of learning to love and looking forward to sharing a lifetime with someone. It could be a season of chaos with kids going 10 different directions and an inability to connect with your spouse, feeling like all the chaos has wreaked havoc on your relationship. It could be a season of grief where you are leaving a place you love, or grieving the life of someone you lost. It could be a season of healing, running from an addiction that in the past has claimed your life. Perhaps a season of longing – longing to get pregnant, longing to be healed, longing for someone to share your life with. It could be a season of anger and frustration; peace and security; aging or sickness. Whatever the season, recognizing that there is always another season symbolizes hope.
One thing we know about hope – it is not a sickly sweet sentiment, but rather a hard-nosed determination. Václav Havel, a Czech writer says this: “Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”
So in the season you find yourself in may you have hope and the conviction that all will make sense.
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Marilyn R. Gardner 
Wow, Marilyn, after reading the comments it’s kind of funny. I will be turning 53 on Feb 28th and it’s interesting how things that would have put us in the “that was the worst day of my life” years ago, don’t even phase us. We know through experience, that something far better, or far worse COULD have happened and we put it into perspective.
Really great piece, and it’s so good to be reading blogs again after some reconstruction on mine.
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So true about perspective mj! Sometimes don’t you wish you could rewind the tape? Thank God for grace in the seasons. (and for hefty doses of humor and humility in the process!)
Marilyn Gardner Sent from my iPhone
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Where do babies come from? Good question Marilyn. A mothers womb is just their gateway into this world. Where do they really come from? Perhaps our destiny is just to be there to give them love and a good upbringing, emotional security and a feeling of belonging. To show them how their Creator loves them and to love Him back. and to teach them to become people worthy of their Creation. Perhaps ours is not to question their origins at all.
“Why did i get restless” you ask… let me quote Vaclav Havel here..
“The real test of a man is not how well he plays the role he has invented for himself, but how well he plays the role that destiny assigned to him.”
We get restless because we trust ourselves and our limited vision, over destiny and its infinite vision and wisdom. The real role is the one that destiny assigns for us, accept it and play it to the best of your ability. Do not get restless again Marilyn. there is a purpose in all the changes. if you had stayed in one place you would not have touched all the minds and hearts that you have.
My daughter is constantly failing. it is not that she is not studying hard or giving it her all, she is also extremely intelligent and despite missing a month of med school has caught up with her class. She is just unable to give an exam. So she is failing. i told her today not to worry about it what she should worry about is the kind of impact she is leaving on minds and hearts. if she is where she is there is a reason for it and she should do the best to be true to that by giving the best she can to whoever she comes across.
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Funny how I would have not really known of Vaclav Havel had I not just been in Prague in January and I saw the continued flow of flowers and candles in Wenceslas Square. He was cherished by the people as viewed by my daughter living there. Even a month after his death they were still leaving tributes. And yes each season brings both joys and sorrows. How delightful today to meet a new patient and his wife and witness how they have embraced the season they are now in with humor, overflowing expressions of love for one another and with shared tears.
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Your daughter lives in Prague? Wow, mine live 100 km away. I left Prague on 12th Dec just 6 days before he died. His death really saddened me. there are very few people on earth today with a mind and thinking to equal his.
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Marilyn, what a beautiful post, and certainly one that connected with a conversation I had with a dear friend today. She and I don’t talk often, but when we do, we discuss important issues of life. These are seasons of growth and understanding. We must experience the rain, sleet, snow, wind, and blistering heat of life sometimes, but we also find respit in the warm spring days and the splendid beauty of autumn. Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 is one of my favorite verses. Thank you for this bright pondering of life’s seasons!
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Oh so beautifully put. I have friends like that as well – they come a bit like the seasons, just when I need them. I lived for so long in places that didn’t have pronounced seasons – but even there I could feel changes in weather and patterns. I find when I write posts like this I’m speaking to myself as much as anyone – reminding myself of what this journey of life is…and isn’t! Always encouraged by you!
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Marilyn, having gone through many, I have concluded that there are reasons for the seasons.
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Well and beautifully said. It’s so hard to see that at points which is why I am grateful for those that can remind me.
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Vaclav Havel was a very very wise man, I really mourned his passing, what was sad was that few outside Czech even noticed what a loss it was.
I had little to do during the day, when i moved to here in 1988 but to watch world events unfold on television for the next two years, till we were forced to leave. What an unfolding that was! it seemed history itself was played out on our little 20 inch television screen. It was a season for loving, for setting up our first home, for laughing and worrying and loving our first child, as she took her first steps, said her first word, which for some reason for months seemed to be nothing but beee, She gave me my first grey hair which were in those days camouflaged under the natural black but they were there believe me. What an infant she was for giving a parent grey hair!
Have seen a few seasons since and before that too, a lot of seasons come and go in 51 years, I have also witnessed my friends and family experiencing various seasons.. What remains constant though is the control of God over all the seasons, God is in control and all is good.
Thanks for this post.
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I’m in that same stage as you! I remember heading to Pakistan with a 3 month old….2 years later another babe, a year later finding ourselves back in the U.S and yet another baby. Where do babies come from Pari?? Then to Cairo for what couldn’t have been better years of being a stay at home mom, but I would occasionally get restless. I think back now and think – that was the life! Why did I get restless? Now at 52 I am doing well in a career that I never expected and watching life unfold in a steady rhythm. Loving my fifties!
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