"The Seasons of Our Souls"
by John McGondel. Summer-2003

When I was a kid, time stretched to forever. It had no end. The Summer vacation from school wasn't just a break between semesters like it is now for me. It was forever. We never thought that Fall would get here...

Now I have seen the seasons begin to change faster each year, and time has accelerated. No longer does the Summer seem like forever. The years seem as long as the Summer used to. In a psychology course that I once took, we studied the concept that a person's growth throughout his/her lifetime correlated to the growth of humankind down through history. I see now that our lives are just one long, extended year which is disguised as a series of years. But those years in the series are actually only seasons.

Our youth is the Springtime of our present lives. Our post-adolescent years are the Summers of our lives. And this, my middle-age, is the Fall of my life. My hair turns gray as the leaves turn orange. I find myself getting chillier than I used to. And I know now that the Winter of my present lifetime approaches.

After the Winter of my present life has come and gone, there will be another Springtime. There always has been thus there always will be.

As I grow and mature through these seasons of my life, I find myself somehow eagerly awaiting my next Springtime, and my next time of youth. At one time I was afraid of re-birth, but now I believe that I shall embrace it as an old friend when I see it again. For without the Winter of our lives, there could never be a Springtime of our lives. I look forward to seeing the many friends whom I have missed these past few years, and I believe that they too will be there waiting to comfort me and to help me to celebrate the next Springtime of my life.