Reasons and Seasons
It’s autumn and nature is packing its bags for a well-deserved holiday. Today, as I sat on the banks of a stream, autumn bronzed leaves drifted downwards from branches, unsettled by a light breeze.
As I watched their meandering airborne path into the gently flowing river, I pondered where these leaves might end up.
From birth to death, they have been bound to their parent and now released, a different journey and purpose faces them.
And, as I’ve said before, Mother Nature has an innate ability to teach life lessons, if we look for them.
Let me explain.
My friend Karen, occasionally quotes her grandmother whom, had a sage insight to life and in particular; relationships. “People, she suggested, come into your life for a reason or a season.”
This maxim relates to friendships, acquaintances, colleagues and chance meetings. After all, our connections with others, no matter how brief or long, can take the form of uncanny synchronicity, answers to prayers, painful experiences, and lifelong partnerships.
And of course, we happily absorb those delightful connections that cause us happiness, peace, laughter, positivity and opportunities for reciprocated affection. However, we often rage against those people who may cause us pain, loss and in some cases, misfortune. This too, is particularly acute when we experience grief through the death of a loved one.
And ironically, herein lies the beauty of life within the, ‘reason and season’ maxim. It is non- discriminatory.
As Shakespeare once said, “All men and woman are merely players, they all have their exits and their entrances”. And so, people enter and exit our lives for a host of reasons but each leaves an indelible imprint. We may, at the time, not appreciate the life lessons people bring, but all – positive or negative, allow us to grow in experience, insight and wisdom.
It doesn’t matter the length of their stay or their type of interaction. What matters, is the fact that your path’s crossed. What you retrieve from that connection is up to you, because there is valuable learning, enrichment and growth in all connections.
My sense however, is that all connections, no matter how brief or long, teach us a lot about who we are and how we live in the world. And this includes non-human connections such as our careers, reputation, looks, power, money and public adoration.
If we can embrace truly, the idea of a season and a reason, perhaps we wouldn’t hold on so tightly to those things, no matter how positive, negative or important they appear.
It would, after all, be lovely for trees to keep their leaves throughout the year but there are seasons for a reason.