New Season, New Storyline

Driving to work early this week, I've noticed something that immediately lifts my coffee-deprived spirits:

The sun is starting to come up earlier!

Just in the last week, the sky has started to lighten up at the tips around 6am. There's a glow on the Eastern horizon. And since I drive east to work... I get to bask in the glory of a blue-tinged sky for a few minutes before starting my work day.

I know we are just a couple of weeks away from "Spring Forward" and then it will be light plenty early- and I am ready. So, so ready.

I used to be such a "winter" girl. Cold, cloudy, rainy, wintry. Maybe my years of working the night shift turned me into a dark-lover! 

And over the past few years, that's changed. I still love a cold day- and give me storms any day.

But I want to see the sun in the morning, and sit on my back patio in the late evening, with the sun just beginning to set. I'm already craving those 6am runs because it's too hot by 7am. 

OK, maybe not that extreme. 

I am ready for warm and sunny. I'm ready for my first lake house trip of the year in a couple of weeks. I'm ready for our camping trip, set for early May. I'm ready to hit the ground running- literally- and take advantage of every inch of Spring and Summer. Swim, bike, run. Let's do it.

Every season is glorious in it's own way. I love Fall for its warm coffee, red leaves & scent of fireplaces firing up for the first time in months. Winter's crisp air, lots of blankets on the bed. Spring for the rain, the newness & freshness. And summer- what's more vibrant than summer? You're fully awake in the summer.

But the transition from season to season- that's really something amazing. 

I'm doing a 10 week devotional right now by Jan Silvious- "Same Life, New Story." She talks a lot about looking at things from a new perspective. Embracing change, embracing the way God can change the storyline of our life. 

Change is hard for me- but just like the seasons, it happens whether we like it or not. So why not bask in it? Allow God to shift our focus, or perspective? Allow Him to change the seasons- and change our hearts?

Lent begins today- and I don't have anything in mind to give up. But I can guarantee that 40 days from now we will be fully immersed in a new season. So I commit to embracing this transition- from season to season, and from one storyline to the next one God has written for me.