Spring of this year I went to visit a friend in New York, 1200 miles from my home in Florida. The scenery was so beautiful. The grass was lush green and soft enough to run barefoot through. The trees stood tall and majestic and I stood in awe of God’s beauty. My second visit took place in June, summer season and it was even more beautiful. All the flowers were growing and the colors were show stopping; Red tulips, pink and violet spider flowers, blue Hydrangeas and many more.

My next visit took place in October. I didn’t think the beauty could have been better than the other seasons, but I was wrong. Fall foliage was amazing and filled with various colors of rich orange, red, yellow, magenta and glorious purple. We drove through the mountains, through the vineyards and thanked God for the alluring colors of fall. Time and time again I stopped the car so I could take photos and sounded like a broken record, “This is so beautiful,” I stated over and over and over again.

Today, I am here in winter. We had a snow storm yesterday that dropped about 3” of snow on the ground. The trees are covered in powdery snow and ice cicles and beautiful white snowflakes covered the ground with a light dusting. Where some might see dreariness through the sunless windows, I looked in wonderment of just how the snow and ice formed beauty on the ground and in the trees. Each snowflake was different in size and the light dusting turned into a heavy blanket of beautiful white. I just had to go outside and throw some snowballs and then go for a brisk chilling walk.

As I walked, I thought about how I was at the same place during all four seasons and yet each season was so different. Isn’t that how our life is? We are constantly at different seasons and yet we could be at the same place in our life. Our life can be filled with joy one season, grief another, disappointment another and happiness in yet another. The bible says in Ecclesiastes 3 that there is a season for everything. Exodus talks about the plowing season, Leviticus says we will be in a rainly season, Job talks about a dry season. God created seasons in nature and seasons in our lives and there is tremendous beauty in both if we will look for it.

If I learned anything this year while visiting during different seasons, it’s this. Seasons change constantly. Your perspective determines how each season will effect your life and what each season brings is dependent on how you see the season.

That beautiful winter day with the chilling snow, caused my flight to be canceled and wreaked havoc on my plans. Yes, that was disappointing and I could have let the disappointment ruin the day. Instead, my perspective and focus was on the beauty of the season right at that moment and not the disappointment. I choose to focus on the meaning of the season and intentionally be in the moment. When I did that, I found a million reasons to be grateful for my surroundings. I have learned to apply this same perspective to the seasons in my life. I want to be grateful no matter what season I am in.

I had a season of Unraveling that almost destroyed me but I choose the perspective of looking it through God’s eyes. I have had many difficult seasons alongside some beautiful seasons. I need to react to all seasons, the good and bad, with the assurance that God is with me in every season and all I have to do is look for Him. Friend, I don’t know what season you are in right now. As I write this it is Christmas season which is supposed to be the “happiest season of all,” yet some people are in a season of loneliness and depression. Whatever season you are currently in, I pray that you will look at it from a different perspective. What if you looked at what you can gain instead of what you lost? What if you looked at it as ‘what is God going to bring me to’, instead of why am I in this difficult season? What if you found reasons to be grateful right now for this very season. That would help change your perspective. I pray that this season you will see the beauty in all things no matter how big or small. I pray that you will find gratitude and intentionally enjoy this season before it changes.