Seasons of Life

As she enters into a new season of life, Rachel Watkins contemplates how to keep her past, present, and future in proper perspective.

As you look out the window, what season is it? It can be hard to tell nowadays. With the past years of crazy weather, it can be hard to tell if it is winter, spring or summer based on the temperature. And the calendar months don’t often help either. November, 2021 gave me temps in the 70-60’s rather than the usual 50-40’s. But more importantly, November, 2021 moved me into a different type of season of life as I became a grandmother for the first time.

Wow! How did that happen? Of course, I know how but the nine months of preparation for this big day for my eldest daughter did nothing to prepare me for the emotional roller coaster it gave me. Am I the only one who felt strangely old when their first grandchild arrived? Where did the years go? How did I get this old? How much time have I wasted?

And even as I write this, I can’t help but think how cliche these statements are. I can remember, years ago, when older friends looked at me with my large family while sharing photos (print photos mind you, not on their cell phones which didn’t yet exist) of their newest grandchild.

“Savor these years,” they would tell me with a wry smile, “they go by so fast.” Ha! I thought. With two in diapers, two toddlers and the pile of laundry waiting for me at home, I would think, “Please, let these years fly by!” And they did: they flew by bringing along several more children along with way.

Yet, over the weeks and months preceding my grandson’s arrival, I found myself spending way too much prayer time sending up laments of regret and sorrow. With several adult children making their way, and their own mistakes, out in the world, it was easy for me to think of each and every one of the mistakes I made in raising them. All too soon, my prayers became all about me. I stopped sending out prayers of grateful joy about the new life soon to arrive. I forgot to pray for the strength my children needed to face their battles and temptations. I focused only on the mistakes I made in seasons long past, and nothing else.

woman looking out the window

But, seasons in life change both outside our windows and in our lives. The pages on the calendar are torn off and thrown to the ground. Time flies and what are we to do? I needed to remember each season of my life, past and present, with God’s love and mercy in mind. Blessedly, a quick re-reading of Ecclesiastes 3 put me aright. God has given us a proper time and moment for everything, and I soon “recognized that there is nothing better than to rejoice and to do well during life” (Ecclesiastes 3:12). I needed to rejoice and strive to do well in my life.

When our seasons of life radically change, either with really good news such as the birth of a child or really bad news such as a poor medical diagnosis, it is human nature to re-examine one’s life in light of this news. The good news is usually easy to handle but the bad news never is. However no news should ever allow us to forget God’s love, mercy, and protection.

I took advantage of Christmas confession and re-adjusted my prayers accordingly. With both young adults in the world and teens still at home being prepared to launch, the season of life my husband and I are both parents sitting around the dinner table and parents praying from the porch as was the prodigal son’s father. There is much to rejoice in and much to intercede for; as with every season of everyone’s life.

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I needed to remember each season of my life, past and present, with God’s love and mercy in mind. #catholicmom

Time does fly by and it is our constant struggle to keep the past, the present, and the future in proper perspective. Seek forgiveness not recrimination for our past, embrace the present moment as best we can and put the future in God’s hands.

I recognized that whatever God does will endure forever; there is no adding to it, or taking from it. Thus has God done that he may be revered. What now is has already been; what is to be, already is: God retrieves what has gone by. (Ecclesiastes 3:14-15)