Friday, May 31, 2013

Another Growing Season

    Changes in the seasons brings on new activities and new landscapes.   As a farm boy I was accustomed to the impact of change of seasons related to the crops we grew.   There was a time to plant, a time to cultivate, a time to fertilize and a time to harvest.   I continue many years later to be tuned to the seasons of agriculture.   My commute to the Cornell Campus takes me by hundreds of acres of fertile land devoted to hay, corn and soybeans.   I delight in the start of the growing season when fields are tilled, crops are planted and the new plants emerge from the land.
A New Corn Crop Emerging
 To me every growing season is a rebirth of vigor.   If only  geezers could have more of that kind of rebirth and rejuvenation every year.   Perhaps we do have that rebirth in spirit each spring and summer in spite of our declining physical abilities.
     Although skiers tend to emphasize winter seasons as markers of elapsed time, I am more inclined to mark yearly progress in summers.   Somewhere in my reading I encountered a story about Native Americans marking the age of children and themselves by the number of summers they lived.  If asked about the age of a child they would say he or she had lived so many summers.   I am not sure that this idea is authentic but I like the thought.
    We know that each season has it's own purpose.  I am reminded of the scripture from Ecclesiastes Chapter 3:1.  "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens".
    There is a season for every activity!  Winter is to enjoy the slopes if you are a skier. Fall and Spring give us transitional periods to adjust our lives to new activities. Summer is a time to enjoy outdoor activities as well as to appreciate flowers, leafed trees and the productivity of the earth.   But now we are in the growing season.  A time to watch things grow on the land, in our yards and in our garden.   And perhaps we can also think of how we can enjoy rebirth by new activities,  renewed relationships and new insights in our continuing existence on this earth.   In spite of our age we can always be growing in one way or another.

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