Keep on, keeping on...

Sometimes it seems as though people have a kind of revolving door in my life. Maybe it happens to other people too, but I can only speak for myself. There's a season--maybe a long season when people are in my life and they're definitely friends, sometimes even pretty good friends. Then in a very natural way most people fade away. Sometimes it's a slow fade, like when Summer fades from Texas--it slowly starts to cool, then there might be a sporadic day or two where it gets up past 100 degrees, but slowly and surely the heat leaves. Sometimes it's like when Fall leaves and Winter begins, one day the air is crisp and thin and without warning Winter shows up with a violent, biting chill and maybe a shower or two. And you know Fall is gone.

I have an odd pattern that I repeat at every interval. Initially, I don't like most of these changes, but as the months go by, I slowly become accustomed to the different winds, different droughts and different rains. I even start to like most of them. Then, as they fade away I always want one more day. One more day at the lake, one more day of football, one more day of hoodies and jackets. But like many other things, I can't control these changes. I can only control how I react to them. It seems silly to think of wanting for Winter so much that I would dress in hoodies and jackets in the middle of July, but sometimes in my personal life, I do just that.

If I dislike seasons changing on me, I absolutely abhor people changing on me. Not in a selfish, oppressive way-that I don't want my friends to experience change and growth. I just mean that I don't like when God brings seasons of change and people fade in and out of my life. It makes me miss the last season. Sometimes it makes me really, really miss the last season.

But what can I do? I don't wear hoodies in May or flip flops in February. Keep on keeping on. Seasons return. Sometimes friends return, changed, experienced and able to walk with me through a new chapter in this story. Sometimes, you get friends that remind you of old ones, maybe some of the same mannerisms, some of the same qualities but definitely not your old friends. Not in a bad way, just different. Summers come and go, some Summers are scorching, some are just really hot, but there will always be Summer in Texas. And there will always be change. So what do I do? Keep on keeping on. And know and believe that whatever season God is fading me in or out of will at some point become comfortable, maybe even enjoyable. And for the seasons gone? Hopefully some, if not most will return.