quotes and ideas on the seasons of life

Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect
your prayers to be answered in wondrous
ways. The dry seasons in life do not last.
The spring rains will come again.

Sarah Ban Breathnach

A human life has seasons much as the earth has seasons, each time with its own particular beauty and power. And gift. By focusing on springtime and summer, we have turned the natural process of life into a process of loss rather than a process of celebration and appreciation. Life is neither linear nor stagnant. It is movement from mystery to mystery. Just as a year includes autumn and winter, life includes death, not as an opposite but as an integral part of the way life is made. Rachel Naomi Remen

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. Anne Bradstreet

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief. Khalil Gibran

Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance. Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence. Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance. Yoko Ono

The seasons are what a symphony ought to be:
four perfect movements in harmony with each other.

Artur Rubenstein

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My life is fruitful and abundant. Just as the earth has its cycles and
seasons, so, too, our own lives have times of planting, times of growth
and times of harvest. So much of my frustration comes from my refusal
to accept life's seasons as they come to me. . . . Not all seasons lie
serene in the sun, yet each has its place. As I ask to be attuned to life's
cycles, I feel my anxiety slipping away. I rest in the faith that all is
unfolding according to right timing. I am where I should be when I
should be. I am alert to the good of every moment.

Julia Cameron
Transitions: Prayers and
Declarations for a Changing Life

The heart's seasons seldom coincide with the calendar. Who among us has
not been made desolate beyond all words upon some golden day when the
little creatures of the air and meadow were life incarnate, from sheer joy of
living? Who among us has not come home, singing, when the streets were
almost impassable with snow, or met a friend with a happy, smiling face,
in the midst of a pouring rain?

Myrtle Reed
Old Rose and Silver

In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.

William Blake

People fight for a new conception of life and God, as they
fight to plant seeds in the spring: because they know that is
the only way to harvest. If after harvest there is winter again,
what does it matter? It is just seasonable.

D.H. Lawrence

Like the seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.

Khalil Gibran

You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that
is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything
tries to be round. The Sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is
round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power,
whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as
ours. . . . Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always
come back again to where they were. The life of a human is a circle from
childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.

Black Elk

A person's character and their garden both reflect the
amount of weeding that was done during the growing season.

unattributed

Youth is like spring, an over-praised season more remarkable for
biting winds than genial breezes. Autumn is the mellower season,
and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits.

Samuel Butler

Even if today may seem to be a time of total darkness, it will not last
forever. The dawn will surely come if you advance, ever forward,
without being defeated. The day will definitely come when you can
look back fondly and declare, "I am savoring this happiness because
I struggled back then." It is those who know the bitterness
of winter that can savor the true joy of spring.

Daisaku Ikeda
Buddhism Day by Day

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There was an Indian Chief who had four sons and he wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer and the youngest son in the autumn.

A year later, when they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the pear tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.

The second son said no, the pear tree was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed; he said the pear tree was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said the pear tree was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The Indian Chief then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life.

He then told them that they cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy and Love that come from life can only be measured in the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will no doubt miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer and the fulfillment of your autumn.

Author Unknown

As I accepted the change of the golden hair of my childhood to the
reddish-brown hair of my youth without regret, so I also accept my
silver hair -- and I am ready to accept the time when my hair and the
rest of my clay garment returns to the dust from which it came, while
my spirit goes on to freer living. It is the season for my hair to be silver,
and each season has its lessons to teach. Each season of life is
wonderful if you have learned the lessons of the season before. It is
only when you go on with lessons unlearned that you wish for a return.

Peace Pilgrim

Thinking Like A Farmer
Jim Rohn

One of the difficulties we face in our industrialized age is the fact we've
lost our sense of seasons. Unlike the farmer, whose priorities change with
the seasons, we have become impervious to the natural rhythm of life. As a
result, we have our priorities out of balance. Let me illustrate what I mean:

For a farmer, springtime is his most active time. It's then when he must work
around the clock, up before the sun and still toiling at the stroke of midnight.
He must keep his equipment running at full capacity because he has but a small
window of time for the planting of his crop. Eventually winter comes
when there is less for him to do to keep him busy.

There is a lesson here. Learn to use the seasons of life. Decide when to
pour it on and when to ease back, when to take advantage and when to let
things ride. It's easy to keep going from nine to five year in and year out
and lose a natural sense of priorities and cycles. Don't let one year blend
into another in a seemingly endless parade of tasks and responsibilities.
Keep your eye on your own seasons, lest you lose sight of value and substance.

No one can better bask in summer's balm than those who have
endured winter's bite. Similarly, it is those who have suffered
through life's darkest hours who are able to truly savor the bright
dawn of happiness. The person who has transformed the
worst of fate into the best of fortune is life's champion.

Daisaku Ikeda
Buddhism Day by Day

Life is a thing of many stages and moving parts. What we do with
ease at one time of life we can hardly manage at another. What we
could not fathom doing when we were young, we find great joy in
when we are old. Like the seasons through which we move, life
itself is a never-ending series of harvests, a different fruit for every time.

Joan Chittister

We all know that if the seasons were the same, there would be no growth.
We know that without winter there would be no spring. We know that
without frosts there would be no bulbs and without the monsoon there
would be no rice harvest. In the same way, we also know that without
sorrow there would be no joy. Without pain there would be no healing.
I think that's precisely where the beauty comes in. It comes in through the
fruit of the seasons. He has indeed made everything beautiful in its time.

Naomi Reed
My Seventh Monsoon

Why do you fear the autumn of life? Aren’t the red-brown leaves on
the ground just as beautiful as the blossoms on the tree?

Cyril Conolly

The natural world teaches us the power of change. As seasons
shift, I see the purpose and beauty of life's cyclicality. I see the
promise of spring, the ripening of summer, the bounty of harvest
and that mysterious containment of winter. All seasons work for
the good. So it is, too, with the changing cycles of my life. As I
surrender to the wisdom of a higher plan, I discover in all
circumstances the opportunity for growth and expansion. There
is no season in my life that is without worth. There is no season
in my life that does not unfold my highest good. Challenged by
difficult times, I consciously choose to affirm
the goodness of life's timing.

Julia Cameron
Transitions: Prayers and
Declarations for a Changing Life

From the spiritual side:

The question, "Which is the happiest season of life?" was asked of an aged man.
And he replied: "When spring comes, and in the soft air the buds are breaking
on the trees, and they are covered with blossoms, I think, 'How beautiful is spring';
and when summer comes and covers the trees with its heavy foliage, and singing birds
are among the branches, I think, 'How beautiful is summer.' When autumn loads them
with golden fruit, and their leaves bear the gorgeous tint of frost, I think, 'How
beautiful is autumn.' And when it is severe winter, and there is neither foliage nor
fruit, then I look up through the leafless branches as I never could
until now, and see the stars shine in God's home.

unattributed