Every Season

Today I have been getting things ready for an impromptu yard sale this weekend. My friend's mom and I are going to do one together. It always seems more fun to have a yard sale together than alone. I am finding a lot more stuff than I imagined. Having just moved home four months ago I had already purged quite a bit and the house isn't too terribly cluttered. I have been searching through the hot and humid attic finding things I can let go.
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Out of no where the trees in front of the house have sprouted green beautiful leaves. Just today I have noticed the smell of lilacs coming through our front windows, and am watching the dog lounge in the sun on the porch. Dang she is CUTE!

The windows have been open for days now, letting fans circulate and refresh the house with fresh air. This literal changing of the seasons brought to mind one of the therapeutic art assignments we had when I was in treatment.
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First we listened to a song by Nichole Nordeman titled Every Season (I will post the words to the song at the bottom of this post along with a link to a YouTube video of the song.)
This song explored the mental/spiritual changes of seasons we go through Our assignment was to answer one question relating to each season.

Summer: What things in your life is worth celebrating?
I put a card from my mom as a representation of the people in my life that love and care about me as something to celebrate.


Autumn: What in your life needs to change or surrender?
I needed to surrender my heart, all the layers


Winter: What in your life needs to lie dormant/die?
I needed for my expectations to die
the expectations I have for others
and the expectations I have of what life SHOULD be


Spring: What in your life is beginning to blossom?
At the time of this assignment I was very discouraged, I was down so coming up with something that is blossoming was really hard. The image of a black moon eclipsing a sun really represented my heart. The only thing that I had was hope. Hope represented in the rays of the sun, radiating larger and brighter than the moon.

Maybe you need to ask yourself these questions. Or do the art assignment yourself, it is always more powerful when you see your thoughts, when you use your hands and feel the process.
Let me know if you do, I'd love to hear what in your life is blossoming, needs to die, needs celebrating, and needs to be surrendered.

Every Season (click title to see video)
by: Nichole Nordeman
Every evening sky, an invitation
To trace the patterned stars
And early in July, a celebration
For freedom that is ours
And I notice You
In children’s games
In those who watch them from the shade
Every drop of sun is full of fun and wonder
You are summer

And even when the trees have just surrendered
To the harvest time
Forfeiting their leaves in late September
And sending us inside Still I notice
You when change begins
And I am braced for colder winds
I will offer thanks for what has been and was to come
You are autumn

And everything in time and under heaven
Finally falls asleep
Wrapped in blankets white, all creation
Shivers underneath
And still I notice you
When branches crack
And in my breath on frosted glass
Even now in death, You open doors for life to enter
You are winter

And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced
Teaching us to breathe
What was frozen through is newly purposed
Turning all things green
So it is with You
And how You make me new
With every season’s change
And so it will be
As You are re-creating me
Summer, autumn, winter, spring