Take heart, friend.
The day after Daylight Savings Time ended, as I drove to work, bleary-eyed and slurping down my coffee through a bright green milkshake straw, I noticed the sunlight filter through the trees. This was a new-this-year experience because every ray of sunshine felt new and never seen before—the kind of perspective shift that can only happen when you force your body to believe it’s an hour later than it actually is.
Whatever the reason, seeing the sun sparkle that way was all it took: I was filled with a sudden surge of hope.
The changing of the seasons reveals so much to us if we pay attention. This time around, it’s teaching me two big lessons: first, that suffering is never permanent. And second, joy is available in every season.
Suffering is never permanent.
Like summer in Atlanta, suffering may linger for more time than we want it to. We may be ready for the cooler temps, the nostalgia, and the cozy things of fall, but instead, the summer heat insists on hovering and stifling well into October. But eventually, no matter what, the earth tilts, the time changes, and the next season comes.
The same is true of suffering. Our suffering may last for weeks or months or even years, but it never lasts forever. It may feel like forever, but I promise that one day you will look up and realize that particular season of suffering has ended.
One of my favorite examples, which I recently heard, is “the diaper season.” For young families, the diaper season can last for years depending on how many children the family has. (One mom said she changed diapers for nine years in a row because she had so many children.) But there always comes a day when you change your last diaper. You may not document it. You may not even realize in that moment that it’s your last diaper. But one day, you turn around and you realize: I haven’t changed a diaper in months.
The suffering of grief is this way.
The suffering of loneliness after moving to a new city is this way.
It is all-encompassing and inescapable and fills every moment of every day until one day…it doesn’t. You can finally take a breath without the pain of grief, or you finally make a real friend.
You look up and realize, the suffering I thought would never end has ended.
And thank goodness that the end of a season usually surprises us! Because (I speak for myself, but probably for you, too) if I knew how long I may have to wait before this season of suffering ended, it would be so easy to give up hope.
Take heart, friend. The suffering you face today is real, yes. But it is not permanent.
Joy is available in every season.
The second thing fall is teaching me is that joy is available in every season.
Whether it’s the fireflies and ice cream of summer, or the football and holidays of fall, or the cozy days of winter, or the blossoming newness of spring, there is a reason for joy in every season.
The fading of summer heat into the cooler, crisper days of fall is such a relief at first that I often forget what it really means: winter is coming.
Winters may be mild in Atlanta, but if one thing is true about me, it’s that I was simply not made for cold. Even Atlanta-winter “cold.” I wear layers on layers in winter, but it never helps. When I’m cold, even the best day ceases to be fun. Winter, for me, is usually a season of very low functioning and very high misery.
(I hear my Wisconsin cousins now: “Ha! You think Atlanta is cold! You should visit us in the depths of winter!” I have, you guys, and every time I do, I’m certain I’m going to die because my blood is about to freeze in my veins.)
So what I’m saying is, fall is fun at first, but it’s also a beacon that things are about to get hard.
Happiness in this life comes from seeing how God is with us even in the midst of our hardest struggles.
But yesterday, as I drove to work and saw the way the sunlight pierced through the trees—in that special way that is particular to fall—I was reminded that joy is available to us in every season. Even seasons of suffering. Even though the days ahead, for me, will be full of shivering, layers, low functioning, and elevated misery, there will still be good things: winter sunshine is its own brand of bright, and the joy of snuggling up under mountains of blankets is real! And it’s for sure a joy not available to us in Atlanta in July (*insert sweating emoji here*).
There are reasons to be grateful in every season. And the kicker is this: sometimes those reasons are only available to us when we’re suffering.
Finding five things to be grateful for every day will change your life.
I am not the first person to say this, and I’m not the last, but maybe this is the reminder you needed today: one of the most transformative things you can do, no matter, what season you find yourself in, is to practice gratitude.
Gratitude is a key that unlocks so much good, even in the darkest times. Finding five things to be grateful for every day will change your life. This gratitude practice will shift your focus from the daily annoyances and struggles you face to the generous and never-ending blessings God is pouring out over you every single day.
Will gratitude make your overbearing boss less of a micromanager? No.
Will gratitude pay the bills? No.
Will gratitude miraculously heal your mom’s incurable illness? Sadly, no.
But shifting our interior attitude from one of grumbling negativity to humble gratitude will make our crosses so much easier to bear. And it will teach us something profound—that happiness in this life isn’t a fruit of molding our inner attitudes so that they magically change our outer circumstances. Rather, happiness in this life comes from seeing how God is with us even in the midst of our hardest struggles.
Seeing how God is with us begins with noticing the little details God plants in our lives that bring us joy. Did you see the sunshine filtering through the trees this morning? That’s a God detail. Did you somehow get free shrimp at the supermarket, and shrimp is one of your favorite things? That’s a God detail.
Once you start noticing those little details, let the joy they bring you matter by being grateful for them. Look for five things every day that you are grateful for, and watch how it transforms your life.
Some of the things bringing me joy right now, in this season:
- The rays of sunshine that hit the trees in the morning and at night, and rim them with gold
- Football!
- Cooler temps = cozier things, from sweatpants to soups to comfortably baking things in the oven without turning my kitchen into a sweat lodge….yes, please!
- My Monday night women’s bible study; these gals are rad, and I know God is finally answering my prayer for community here in Atlanta
- Fall-scented candles…I cannot get enough!
Where can you find joy and reasons to be grateful, even in the midst of daily annoyances or true suffering? What are some things Fall is teaching you? Tell me about it in the comments below!
