This morning the temperature is in the mid-40s, but I can hear birds chirping outside and just barely see our maple budding in the front yard. Only a week ago I was firing our wood stove to keep away the cold, but now we have to open our windows at night to cool down the house in anticipation of another warm day. In only a few weeks strawberries will be ready, the first sign that summer has begun.

When I was six, I was sure a geologic age must pass until my next birthday or my family’s vacation at the beach. But at the same time, it also seemed that each summer day contained only a few hours of daylight that I could spend crawling through muddy culverts with my brothers or bushwhacking through thickets of green briars in the woods adjoining our property. After what seemed like just a few weeks, school was back in session.

Now, both the days and weeks fly past with a rapidity that is alarming at times. One week gone, then a month, then a season and a year. Without realizing it is happening, years turn into decades, children grow, mature, and start having children of their own.

When I was stuck at home during the first few weeks of Covid with not much to do other than work remotely and plant and weed our garden, time slowed to a crawl. As hours bled into days and days into weeks, I noticed that the reddish buds from last week were transitioning into flowers and then into green leaves. The dead grass in my yard began to green and wild garlic thrust its stalks high above the surrounding blades. Never before had I watched winter turn into spring and spring into summer with such acute interest. Something outside of myself had forced me to slow down, and ever since then I’ve been more aware of the yearly slide from one season to another.

The daily and yearly cycle of days and seasons are so thoroughly ingrained in our psyches that we can’t keep from comparing the seasons to our lives. I’ve heard many a minister refer to older folks as being in their sunset or fall season of life. They have passed through the strength and vibrancy of youth and middle age and are now enjoying the harvest of the earlier portion of their lives.

Seasons apply to more than just large periods of life such as youth, middle-age, and aged. Within each of these larger periods of life are smaller periods. Babies turn into toddlers, toddlers become children, children start going to school. If the Lord blesses a young couple with children, their 20s, 30s, and 40s are filled with changing diapers, cleaning up messes, and dealing with all the challenges of forming sinful children into responsible young adults. Then these young adult move on to their own lives and families and start another generation. The cycle continues like it has since Creation.

Each of the seasons of life have their unique challenges. Now my days are filled with time at work, spending time with my family, and any other responsibilities I have. My paycheck is barely able to keep up with mortgage payments, car repairs, dentists and doctor bills, and saving for future expenses. If I am able to summon enough energy and discipline at the beginning or end of each day, I can carve out a few spare moments for reading or for writing or research for personal projects like this blog or the Looking Over Life podcast. I talk to other young dads and often hear a similar refrain: “I’m always busy, and it feels like there will never be an end to the demands on my time, attention, and energy.” If they don’t tell me this explicitly, their faces and comments about their week tell me all I need to know. This season of life is busy and at times overwhelming.

The greatest challenge for me is whether I can make myself spend the time I have in the best way possible. Whenever I’m tired after a frantic day at work and then come home to a messy house and a wife and children who are in bad moods due to sickness or just the stresses of everyday life, I’m tempted to retreat from them into the stultifying embrace of my phone. To my shame, I frequently succumb. Being a dad, husband, and dedicated church member is not easy, and I wonder if I’m up to the task.

Each season has its challenges, but also brings blessings. As men, we often thrive when we are needed. I am busy, but this is because I have a family who loves me and depends on me for financial, emotional and relational support. Having my boys jump up on my lap in the evening wanting me to read them Farmer Boy or snuggling under my blanket for warmth and comfort on a cold winter morning are unspeakably precious.

I was sitting in my recliner in Virginia while I was writing the first few lines of this essay, now I’m wrapped in a blanket in a farmhouse about an hour northwest of Cusco, Peru. During April and May they are leaving their warm and wet summer and heading into their dry and cold winter. While we are tilling our gardens in preparation for planting, they are taking the last few vegetables off of theirs. The months and seasons that seem back home as regular as a clock ticking, are not the same here. Only a few hours drive away from Cusco are jungles that have never seen winter.

The nights are cold here in Peru and the house is uninsulated. I have to wrap myself in blankets just to get enough warmth to my fingers so I can type. Every morning, low-lying fog hides the distant snow-capped peaks of the Andes. We might get a glimmer or two of sun through the thick cloud cover, but then the sun comes out at around nine or ten. From near freezing temperatures at night to risk of sunburn at noon and a blanket of fog in the morning to mountain vistas and sunsets in the evening, this part of Peru is a land of extremes and constant change.

All of us march through our lives at the same pace, day to day and year to year, but our seasons are not same. There are many couples who yearn to have children and the busyness that brings, but can’t. There are those deal with tragedy, illness, and pain as a daily part of their lives. Each of us have unique challenges and blessings that come to us throughout our lives.

The temptation is to move through our problems as quickly as possible—if I can just fix this problem in front of me right now, then I can get past it and relax. The issue with this is that there will always be another dirty diaper, another temper tantrum, another work project, another relationship issue. If we focus on getting past our problems, then we tend to miss the little blessings that come to us. Yes, children leave a string of messes wherever they go, but it is through how we respond to them that they learn how to stop making messes, and much more importantly, how to respond in frustrating situations. If we snap at them because we are tired and in a hurry, what does that teach? Instead, you’ve struggled for several hours to get your children to bed and it’s already 11 and you need to get up at five in the morning, pause and stop a few moments beside their bed to simply look at them as they sleep.

We are going home in just a few days to the depths of spring with summer right on its heels. Strawberries will be nearly ready to pick and we will need start planting our summer garden. After two weeks of neglect my yard must be mowed and there will be many other tasks that have piled up at home and at work. This season is full of activity, and there is always more to do. It is easy to give into frustration that we have been given more than we can handle and that there simply isn’t enough time in each day to get it all done. This year I will try to slow down and attend to all the blessings and enjoyments that each season of the year and of life bring.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.

“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

J. R. R. Tolkien