It's a season.

We have had an intense beginning to the summer holiday season. With lots of traveling back and forth, and a whirlwind road trip with my sister & her kids, today is the first quiet day in central Massachusetts for Chris and I. He arrived Monday night, the Tews and I drove up Tuesday morning, we hit Boston on Wednesday, went to Old Sturbridge Village on Thursday, the Tews left and we visited some friends here Friday, and...well, today is Saturday. So far, I haven't done anything yet but manage to drink some coffee and get dressed. I'd like to keep it that way a few days in a row.

Living through our hectic summertime visits once again, I've been noticing how much everything has changed. Change is not a bad thing; it's a part of life, but it can be shocking because we don't see the changes gradually. We've been living overseas for five years now, with ten-month gaps in between visits to the U.S., so there is a lot that we miss or don't see happening along the way. People change. Places change. Perspectives change. We change. We often don't notice just how much we have changed until we come back to the same places and realize that they have changed, too.

Well, in the midst of all of the changes, there are a few things that are ever-true: Chris will always wear shorts, I will always read books in the sun, and the Lord is always faithful.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:   

a time to be born, and a time to die; 

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 

a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew; 

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate; 

a time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (ESV)