“There is a time for everything. He has made everything beautiful in its time. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.” Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11, 14

We strolled casually along, crunching dry leaves underfoot. Autumn leaf color had peaked. The last vestige of fall was visible on the short path around the mountain lake.

Apricot and gold leaves silently floated from scratchy bare branches, piling up under trees where there had been a shady canopy of graceful green trees meeting overhead.

This was a different season from the last time we’d been at the lake. During this next season, these lovely, large trees could rest for awhile. In fact they would soon be laced with snow, predicted for later in the week.

In life we have more than four seasons. All of them are good, all a gift, although sometimes it doesn’t seem that way. If, however, we search out reasons, there might be a valuable lesson involved or perhaps just a chance to rest and refuel.

Whatever it is, different seasons are part of God’s big plan. And that’s good news.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Sally Ireland Kennedy is the author of Irish Thursdays: More Little Parables, Words from the Heart, and 52 Little Parables from Ireland. She is a songwriter and the creator of Poppy the Penguin® preschool music video series. Sally lives in south Florida, with her husband Ben.