You have made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting. --Psalm 104:19

Living as we do in climate-controlled homes, and working in windowless rooms, we can easily forget what time of day it is. We depend on our watches to tell us when we should eat and when we should sleep. We note the changes in seasons not by looking at the sky, but by checking out department store displays or by following sporting events. Cut off from the natural world, we've lost touch with the rhythm of life.

Imagining that the path we walk is straight, that the trajectory from Point A to Point Z contains no switchbacks or sudden turns, we forget that our lives more closely resemble a spiral than a line. Again and again, we cross ground that we've traveled before. Not recognizing the signs, we are caught off guard. We believe that we have failed.

What the seasons tell us, however, is that birth and death, abundance and loss, are experiences we will live through more than once. Receiving and letting go take practice, we will learn, and moving gently through the cycles of the year can teach us well.

O God, give me the patience that comes with following the seasons, never letting me forget that I have much to learn from them.

--From Signposts Daily Devotions
by Susan Hanson