Seasons Change

The fall color right now is spectacular ... S - P - E - C - T - A - C - U - L - A - R !

I have watched this tree change color over the past weeks as I walked Jump and Joy. They are oblivious to the beauty around us. Well, that's not completely true. They have watched the increasing number of squirrels storing up nuts and the like for their winter reserves. This has ushered in another new season for me. I need to be on "squirrel alert" as I walk my two "squirrels". This has caused me to consider this new season that slowly unfolds before me.

Last Thursday, my friend Martha and Team Martha* seemed to be at the end of a season. Her doctors here told her they had nothing more that they could do to help her win her battle again AML. BUT ... what a great word to give hope ... BUT ... there was a doctor in another hospital who may have ... something? So, off went Martha, and yesterday she got the news that there are more than one options for her! She may still be in this season of battling AML BUT there are other things that can be tried to win this battle! Same battle but a new season ... with renewed and greater hopefulness.

As I walk through my own season of looking for full-time employment, I want to be more like Martha. I want to be more like Jump and Joy. I want to walk in hopefulness ... even if I can't see the way ahead. I need to be on full "squirrel alert" in order to see the change of season, to see the different ways God is at work on my behalf ... because He is working. He is. This change of season means I continue to put my faith and hope in His unfailing, faithful, chesed love ... because it is unchanging.

I started thinking about this season change when I went through the Pittsburgh Airport a few weeks ago. Every time you ascend the escalator to the gates this is what you see:

Yep! You see T-Rex in all his glory. Here is someone who had trouble adapting to a change of season. As I passed him, I thought to myself that I don't want to become like him. I don't want to break under the change of seasons and become fossilized. This requires what I mentioned before ... being on "squirrel alert" for the ways God is working on our behalf and to hope in God's unfailing love.

The LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.
Psalm 147:11

*My name for those of us who are walking with her through her season of battling acute myloid leukemia (AML).