We have entered the last days of leaf-peeping peak colors in Colorado. The weather is changing and so is the earth. As autumn blows into full swing, the air cools down, and the warmth of summer drifts away, I deem it appropriate to contemplate the falling leaves and meditate on the seasons that our lives inevitably go through.

What season are you in your life? Perhaps you have seen blessings blossom recently in your life, with multiple colors and warmer temperatures flooding your heart, just like in spring. It is possible that you’ve been enjoying an adventurous and fruitful summer, with lots of joy and warmth in your daily spiritual walk. I’m certain that many are withstanding the bleak midwinter, awaiting absolutions, and pushing through the long and fruitless nighttime. Maybe you are starting to see some leaves fall, and the bright green colors that were once abundant in your daily hike are slowly fading away. Just as the leaves in the trees are beginning to anticipate a harsher and darker next few months, you might also be experiencing some change in your life.

People say change is good. I disagree. Change is difficult, uncomfortable, unpredictable, unreliable, and, at best, volatile. However, it can be an agent of growth. It can catalyze love, joy, peace, goodness, and faithfulness (where have I heard these before…?). Yet, it can also propel us into a whirlwind of doubt, fear, pain, and, eventually, suffering. Why must we endure change, then? It would be proper to claim that change itself might not be good, but it can certainly create opportunities for beautiful things to arise.

Joseph believed he was living his best life (Gen. 37-50). He was young and gifted, and his father’s favor made him benefit from material presents and privileges that none of his other siblings could ever have. Later on, he was thrown in a pit and sold into slavery in a foreign country. With hard work and perseverance he gained the favor from a military official, only to be thrown in jail thanks to a cunning trap. Eventually, Joseph became Pharaoh’s wingman, and his gifts led him to become Egypt’s most important figure against a famine season that hit the land for 7 years. If there was one person that lived and withstood a variety of seasons and drastic changes in his lifetime, it was Joseph. Still, we read time after time in his story that one thing remained in his many trials: the Lord was with him.

The Lord remained by Joseph’s side in each of his very contrasting seasons. Both in the good ones and the bad ones. As I look out the window, I can’t help but accept the fact that there is nothing I can do about the changing seasons. May I share something with you? I despise winter, and I know that it is coming. Change is inevitable. Seasons are inevitable. Nevertheless, one thing will always remain whether warm or cold, colorful or bleak, fruitful or infertile: The Lord will always remain by our side. Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid? He is our light and our salvation, through winter, spring, summer, and fall. I know that although right now leaves are falling and temperatures are dropping, I get to delight in the Lord’s presence. No matter how long or harsh this season might be, the Lord is with me