Like many, I’m beginning to feel the “August Rush” of summer’s exit and the onset of a season that is environmentally challenged, yet enjoyable and hopeful. Not surprisingly, the seasons have begun to come and go unpredictably and as they are changing, so are we. But through all of our seasons of change, what do we believe is most important – the point of the experience or the period of time?

The time of year when each calendar season begins and ends is very different depending on the region of the world you are in. Our personal journeys flow in similar phases. No two people begin and end the same journey at the same time and for the same reasons. Each person’s arrival uniquely differs. Like the changes in weather, ecology, and hours of daylight, journeys transform our lives in the same way because they too, are seasons. These periods of enlightenment, development, restoration, and change help us to move to the next phase of our journey. But wherever the journey may be taking us, why do we seek so much control over it?

A dear friend reminded me the other day, “It’s frustrating when you’re in a hurry and God isn’t,” an affirmation quoted throughout many orations.

That’s the thing about seasons – they have their space, time, and purpose. These calendar deviations often mark our moods, stimulate our senses and at times, leave us vulnerable. Like the conversion of a season, the benefit of a journey teaches us how to be more adaptable, rational, and grateful for each moment.

The purpose of a journey is to remind us that life is ever-changing, at its best and for our greater good. Life is never dull when even the trees change their garb from season to season. How we view change – seasonal, spiritual, physical or otherwise – determines how we move forward with and in the world. Few people are able to embrace the adjustments of life. Others may remain stuck, annoyed, or distressed. To fight change is simply to fight life and therefore, stunts our growth and blocks our blessings…and blessings come in all kinds of packages.

Excerpt from Tuesday Morning Love the eBook, Week One – A Sacred Space:

“…What I discovered most throughout this deviation is that travel isn’t the only experience that can broaden the mind. The most repetitive or least inspiring situations can be filled with enthusiasm and discovery if the person at the center of it is determined enough to make magic happen.”  

The power of any journey aids us in understanding that all of life’s lessons have purpose: lessons on seeking truth, becoming aware, giving love, embracing love, learning how to forgive, how to accept others, how to practice gratitude each day, and so on. In some way or another, perhaps these profound journeys grant us a greater understanding of how the power of the present can push us forward. Nothing is complete or incomplete – it just is. In considering this, we appreciate the beauty of change and the reason for our seasons. We no longer then, desire the need to count the days, months, and years because we can assume that every moment in the journey matters – in which we have an opportunity to become unstuck.

George Santayana once said, “To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.”

The value in a journey is life’s greatest gift. A journey can last for a day, a month, a year or a lifetime. But there is more to a journey than transporting physical luggage; we carry mental baggage as well. A variety of circumstances may oblige us to detour from A and B, and we may very well end up at Z. That is okay. There is no grand cosmic law that forces us all to be efficient all of the time. Our emotional lives are allowed to meander and frequently, the most profound lessons we learn and gain are from the sidetrack – not the main route.

Excerpt from Tuesday Morning Love the eBook, Week One – A Sacred Space:

“Journeys are fascinating, necessary, and important. They grant us stamina at the starting point, esteem for the interim, and introspection for the long haul. This coastline of comprehensibility brought rescue, restoration, and rebirth to my spirit. While events of the past have brought about some of the most unsettling memories of my life, they have equally afforded many of the most transforming and spiritually convincing recollections I will eternally retain. Necessary encounters have compelled me to appreciate journeys for what they are – significant engagements with calculated directions for the bridges we must cross. Bridges align the foundation for us to transition from one possibility to another, and so I am indebted to the universe for the middle points. Therefore, the reasons, seasons, and divine order of our lives are to be welcomed.”

Change is unavoidable and a constant element of our existence. Seasons change. People change. Circumstances change. We think while these occurrences are happening, we know why they are happening. Only later, we realize that they have happened for an entirely different reason. The journey may change its course but the journey changes us too.

Embrace change. Appreciate the detours. Cherish the seasons. Welcome the growth. Value the journey.

“Wouldn’t take nothing for my journey now.” ~ Maya Angelou

Love and Light for your Tuesday!