To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV
The changing of seasons is an amazing thing. It displays God’s creativity in His creation and His careful arrangement of nature and weather. Here in the southern United States where I live it is Spring- more affectionately called by locals as Pollen Season. If you happen to visit the area during these months of our Spring from mid February to the end of May, you will encounter quite the scene. Sniffling noses, watery eyes, raspy voices, foggy minds and the “I just woke up and feel tired already” groups of people. It is like we have all just watched the saddest videos on our phones for all the sniffles and watery eyes you’ll witness.
And we all empathize with each other and compare our symptoms and the various remedies. We search out and Google every possible option for relief and seek the advice of complete strangers in the medicine aisle of the grocery store. The advice is as wide of a variety as the flavors of Jelly Belly jelly beans- which means quite a number!
As one who suffers from these Spring pollen explosions of symptoms, I sometimes feel quite miserable. I find it very easy to get caught up in the whole “My symptoms are worse than yours” conversation in which we all try to describe in detail, how we are feeling. The real reason is of course to find out what the other person is taking for medicine to relieve their symptoms. To be honest, though, there seems to be no perfect medicine to relieve the allergies, just basically something to control the symptoms. Allergies must simply be endured until, the pollen of the particular flower or tree lessens. It is about the same time the humidity kicks in- about mid to late May for the South.
So, I have a choice to complain about the pollen and then switch to complaining about the humidity, or to find the beauty in it all. There will always be something to complain about.
After living all over the globe, thanks to my husband’s career in military service- I can tell you one great insight about places and weather- there is simply no perfect place in which the sun shines every day of the year. We all have rain- we need it- we all have seasons of storms, and if we have plants- we will have pollen season. We must take it all as a part of life, much like stages of our lives. We all go through various seasons in our lives, as the writer of Ecclesiastes tells us.
There are times when we are growing and sowing in our lives, when we feel pretty good about life. And then there are seasons of harvest when we are content and happy. And then there are seasons of sadness and mourning when we let go of someone or something. There are season of hardship and difficulty. Seasons of uncertainty. But in it all, we can find the beauty of God.
As I have mentioned many times before, life is constantly moving forward. Our lives and are faith are always moving forward and growing and we will be challenged at times. We have the choice to look for the beauty in what God is doing or remain bitter and see only the difficulties. I can look out my window and admire the beauty of the flowers as God could only create their intricate blossoms. Or I could only see the pollen floating in the air and complain about Spring. Without the pollen, the bees and butterflies could not survive. The honey that sweetens would be missing if the bees could not harvest the nectar from the blooms. The fruit trees producing their delicious fruit of late Summer could not bloom without the help of the bees and the Spring winds blowing the pollen from tree to tree.
In life we will have problems, the pollen of our lives, so to speak, but it can bring the fruit and growth later on that we can enjoy. Pollen season is a brief time. It doesn’t last all year- thankfully- There is a season for everything- we must find the beauty in the season we are in- even if it means watery eyes and sniffles. -God bless you- Nancy
Moving Forward 