A Time for Every Season...

​Fall is always exciting for me.  With the leaves dropping and the cooler temperatures it is much easier for me to be out and to see the birds flitting around the trees.  We also have some slight changes at our feeder.  Currently, all our year-around-birds are still here; plus, after a brief but alarming hiatus, both the Cardinal pair and Downy Woodpecker pair have returned.  We have seen for the first time the Red-Eyed Vireo, along with some returning friends: Baltimore Orioles, Yellow-Rumped Warblers, Yellow-Belly Sapsuckers, and the Chipping Sparrows.  
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With the new weather season, I find myself reflecting on my season of life.  One of Abby’s teachers calls their class quizzes, “opportunities.”  As a former teacher and life-time nerd I love that!  We that are no longer in school but still have many opportunities to grow, expand and test our new (and old) knowledge, show our newfound learning, expand methodology, and generally improve ourselves. If we look for those opportunities.  A change in weather seasons is a good reminder that we still have an opportunity to do this, to embrace a new weather season and possibly look for new ways to vary daily interactions and routines in life.  The Byrd’s song, Turn, Turn Turn, references this idea; though, not a new idea and not one that the Byrds came up with alone.  Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, purports this same idea:
 To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

I think in order to look for these opportunities, we must let go of the idea that moving into a new season of existence is something to be feared. It is just one phase of life in which we can embrace the wonder of that season.  More importantly, we also must let go of the stigma, that when we do move into a new season of life, change, work, friendship, church, school, etc. it doesn’t mean the old season was bad.  I think about my season of life when my children were very small. I had one set of friends and most of our activities centered around what we had in common, children of the same age.  Now that I am older and most of my children are older, I have a different circle of friends.  The first circle were/are great women and we keep in contact; but over the years our interests have changed, diversified etc.  My current circle of friends now reflects who I am now. 
How many missed opportunities for growth has there been because we cling to former seasons: friends, schools, jobs, hobbies, churches, routines/habits?   We should seek from ourselves new opportunities and applaud it in others; even if this growth is on a very tiny scale.  A birding change we are making this fall is a change in food on our bird buffet.  We have great mix thus far; but, have decided to now incorporate a platform feeder into our bird buffet and plan to introduce some new things on that platform to our birds.  This tiny change that could possibly have enormous benefit by attracting different birds and enriching the diet of our current birds.  So, with the change of weather season remind yourself that is a good time to change up not only your birding life but also maybe other areas of your life and see where it takes you.