The autumns of life inside springtime moments, seem to flitter and float about these resent months. Whether by meme or random conversation, sentiments such as you played outside with your friends for the last time and didn’t know it or these are the moments 90 year old you will look back on and miss are humbling reminders of how fleeting life’s snapshots truly are.

As I turned 50 last year, my body was failing me. Any outing or quick-flip through television channels will show women older than I riding bikes, trotting with ease, bending in the garden, lifting grandkids, and spending an evening out to dinner and a show while smiling and soaking it all in with ease. I couldn’t have known, as I lugged big bags of dirt for my garden in spring 2023, or bent down to collect fallen papers off the floor in March 2024, or lifted boxes into the attic that same year… each would be my last… and each, much too soon for the lifetime I thought I still had left.

I may still have a lifetime left, I just don’t know. Cancer is unpredictable like that. Yet, it all has me really thinking about how surreal simple moments like those are. It isn’t that we need to make a BIG deal of or over-emotionalize the trivial, rather, it is a staunch reminder to consider the simple, a privilege.

Back in the early days of the internet, chain emails were a big thing. They would carry a sentimental story, often closing with some wisdom or encouragement and a suggestion to “Send to 5 friends and you will have something good happen to you”! No joke! Being that the world wide web was still quite new, we read most emails because we weren’t yet inundated as we are today (even if we didn’t buy into the “good luck” promise and forward on). One in particular has stuck with me for the past 30 years…

It was a story of a woman who owned fine linens and silver and crystal glasses, all of which she reserved for “special occasions”. As it was, life was often busy and these “special occasions” were rare and far between. Then, one day, after a visit with her doctor she learned she had a rare and untreatable cancer, she was given merely months to live. All those fine linens, silver, and crystal unused. The letter’s story ended with a call to see life itself as a “special occasion”, to not withhold the finer things for a just-right day, because all days should be celebrated.

When my mom passed away and I inherited her silver set, linen tablecloths, and crystal goblets, I found reason to put them to use. Sunday night we set the table with silver and each evening we enjoyed juice or milk from crystal goblets. We thought of mom, we savored life, we didn’t wait… life is too short, to quick to wait.

In the end, if we knew it was the last time we would play with our friends, or bend down to the floor to pick up paper, or lifted heavy objects to needed positions… or saw a loved one, or rode a bike, or had an adventure… would it change anything? Would we linger a bit longer? Would we work a bit wiser? Would we savor? It is hard to say.

What I DO know is we cannot mourn the loss of what was and can be no more. Whether the changes are untimely or not, makes no difference. God holds it all and he intends us to not only use our time well, but to also accept when seasons change and something can no longer be. In our home, we have a mantra: Don’t focus on what you can’t do, focus on what you can do. No matter how small or big the “cans” are! Some days, all I can do is rest and watch tv because even trying to read or write, my brain won’t do the braining thing!! Other days, I’m shuffling around the house with my extender grabber, picking things up from the floor it’s claw can bear the weight of or sitting at my desk sewing burp cloths for baby. When my grand-daughter visited, I couldn’t pick her up or carry her to the changing table to help her mama out, but I could sit and hold her, feed her, tickle her, read to her, and even take some grandma naps with her!

My eyes still work, praise the Lord I can see and soak up the world around.
My ears still work, praise the Lord I can listen to music and voices and enjoy conversation.
My arms still work, praise the Lord I can hold and hug and knit and craft.

Marathons, or white-water rapids, or long hikes are no longer in my future, those were once done for the last time and I didn’t even know it. But new, slower, more peaceful things are ahead… things often associated with the autumn of life, but I do believe I will choose to see it as spring, something new, something beautiful.

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. What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live…

~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-12 ~

Blessings,

Before you leave, check this out as well....

---

My newsletter has relaunched with EXCLUSIVE content and behind-the-scenes info as well as early scoops on coming projects across our platforms. Be sure to sign-up in the subscription box on our side-bar!