I put on a jacket at 7:15 a.m. this morning to walk across campus to class. That’s right; a jacket. It finally happened. It got below 90 degrees in North Alabama, and it was wonderful.
Fall is coming. (Technically it is supposed to be here already, but that is neither here nor there.)
Don’t we all just love when seasons change? It doesn’t matter what season it is. We are sick of whatever weather we have been having over the past months. We are ready for something new.
Do you ever think how strange it is that our attitudes about a season can change so drastically over the course of two or three months?
In June we say, “Yes, can it please stay this warm forever this is so amazing I love it,” and by August or September we’re miserably covered in sweat and begging the sun to relent from beating down on us.
The same for winter. “Ah, yes cold weather means snow and boots and hot cocoa and sweaters and Christmas and ABC’s 25 Days of Christmas countdown and it’s the best thing ever.” But by mid January, all the magic has died and the movies are over and we trudge along in our sweaters and boots and await the day till spring graces our sad, wintry spirits.
Why are we like this? We’re always looking forward to what’s next, but we can’t enjoy what is right in front of us longer than a week or so.
Don’t we do this with every other part of our lives, too?
We’re always looking ahead to the next big thing. We can't wait for the next day or the next week, next month, next year. Tomorrow. And this starts the moment we can grasp the concept of “tomorrow.”
When you’re young, you can’t wait for Kindergarten, but you always want to be as old as “the older kids.” Then you can’t wait for middle school (because you don’t know that it will probably be one of the darkest times of your life), and then it’s high school, college, graduation, a job, marriage, kids, a new job, another new job, grandkids, senior discounts, retirement… and then you’re looking back on your life wondering where the time went and this is where it went.
This is where the time went. Waiting. Expecting. Wanting more. Never being satisfied with the here, the now. Always holding onto the next season.
Enjoying waking up and putting a jacket on THIS morning.
