I’m so pleased to have a fellow author/blogger and FlourishWriters Academy colleague on the blog this week! Please welcome Nancy Lee from InspirationaLee!!
Yesterday was the first day of the Autumnal Equinox, and we've been talking a lot about the changing of seasons both in life and in the year here on Marbles. Nancy has graciously written some inspirational thoughts on our theme for her guest post here.
Pour a warm cup of tea and drink in her rich words:
Changing Seasons
🍂Fall has always been one of my favorite times of year. The bright colors, the crisp air, the geese flying overhead. Each year I am not able to pinpoint exactly when autumn begins. Did it begin when I stepped out of the house for a walk after dinner and noticed that it was already almost dark? Was it when the air was chilly enough that I had to throw on a sweatshirt? Was it when I found the empty shells of butternuts and walnuts strewn across my lawn? Or was it when I felt the crunch of fallen leaves beneath my feet? Autumn begins each year with a slow fade. . . . a slow giving up of the joys and blessings of summer to give way to something altogether different, but equally, or perhaps more beautiful. So it is with the changing seasons of my life. Not long ago I was in the midst of a long, beautiful and intense summer season. The season of raising my four children, filled with the busyness of parenting, of activities ranging from 4-H to Little League and volleyball, gymnastics, and dance. The season of family gatherings, Sunday dinners around a full table, trips to the water park, and annual camping trips to the lake. The season of Sunday school and VBS; of teaching full time, of science fairs, competitions, and field trips. The season of watching out for my widowed Mom and gradually becoming her caregiver. Like the progression of summer to fall, I can’t pinpoint when the changes began, and I am not sure exactly where I am on the continuum. But I am feeling the changes. Within the last two years, I resigned from my teaching job, I became an empty nester, and my mother passed away. For me, the changing seasons in my life have been a stripping away of identity, of the things that have been important to me in the summer of life, the things that have given me purpose. The process of letting go has been painful at times, and I find myself wondering, “What is left?” I find hope in a simple lesson about photosynthesis I taught in Jr. High science class. The green chlorophyll in the leaves breaks down in autumn revealing the brilliant orange, red, and yellow colors that have been concealed all summer by the green pigment of the chlorophyll. In the same way, the pieces that made up the busy summer of my life are breaking down and changing, revealing something even more beautiful. What is left is the most beautiful of all; The most important identity – the one that has been a part of me since an August day when I was fifteen and gave my life to Jesus – my identity as a child of God. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Gal 2:20🍂
This just cut to my soul and defines all the emotions I'm experiencing in this new season I'm in! Thank you, Nancy, for your inspirational and encouraging words!
A little bit about Nancy:
I prefer not to be defined by what I do or by what I have; I prefer to be identified simply as child of God, saved by grace. And my greatest joy is to encourage others.
But in case you're curious . . .
I am a former Christian school teacher and Recreation Therapist/Activities Director. I live in a small town in the Mohawk Valley in Upstate New York, an area rich in history and natural beauty.
My husband, Paul, and I are the parents of four young adults and a son-in-law. All four of them, and their peers, inspire and challenge me. They are bright, creative, innovative thinkers, driven, and out to change the world.
I love to hike, explore, and to walk my three small, mixed-breed dogs. I also love to spend time with my family, to read and to write.
You can find Nancy sharing inspirational stories at www.inspirationalLee.com and on Facebook and Instagram @inspirationallee