I am often asked which is my favourite season, and I can never give a sensible answer, as I love them all for different reasons. Spring is full of hope and new life, and summer makes me think of warm long summer evenings in the garden, not to mention the summer holidays! Winter has of course my favourite day in it on December 25th (I’m not allowed to mention the word as I get too excited!!!) but Autumn I love for the colours. I love the burnt oranges, the golds and the rich deep reds of the leaves, the mist over the fields in the morning, the silkiness of a freshly picked conker, and the sight of the pumpkins all lined up by the front door. The truth is, I love the fact we have such well defined seasons in this country. I would hate to live in a hot country where there are just two - dry and rainy.

There is a very famous poem in the bible about seasons, in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes 3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. There follows a beautiful list of contrasts that happen in life, - a time to be born a time to die,….. a time to weep and a time to laugh, and so forth. We can all relate to that. Some chapters of our life just seem full of laughter and hope, but at other times everything seems to be dark and we really struggle with our lives. But this is the nature of things.

Just as there has to be a winter before we can experience spring, life never stands still but takes us from chapter to chapter. And the unwelcome truth is, we have very little control of these seasons. 

The message in Ecclesiastes is that all are within God’s ambit, not ours. We know that ultimately God is only working for our good and we have to have faith and trust him. It is in fact our Autumns and our Winters that give us our beautiful Springs and Summers. The Earth needs its rest to die down and seek the nutrients to grow back again.

Everything in God’s world is done for a reason. And even the wrong things that we do can be transformed through His love.

We just have to trust Him and know that He loves us and is always there at our side, even through the worst Winter storm.

With every blessing,

                                    Vivienne.

Everything on earth has its own time and its own season.

There is a time for birth and death, planting and reaping, for killing and healing, destroying and building, for crying and laughing, weeping and dancing, for throwing stones and gathering stones, embracing and parting.

There is a time for finding and losing, keeping and giving, for tearing and sewing, listening and speaking.

There is also a time for love and hate, for war and peace.