We know we must pass through
the seasons God sends,
Content in the knowledge that everything ends,
And oh, what a blessing to know there are reasons
And to find that our souls must,
too, have their seasons—
Bounteous seasons and barren ones, too,
Times for rejoicing and times to be blue—
But meeting these seasons of dark desolation
With the strength that is born of anticipation
Comes from knowing that every season of sadness
Will surely be followed by a springtime of gladness.
When you feel cast down and despondently sad
And you long to be happy and carefree and glad,
Do you ask yourself, as I so often do,
Why must there be days that are cheerless and blue?
Why is the song silenced in the heart that was gay?
And then I ask God what makes life this way,
And His explanation makes everything clear—
The soul has its seasons the same as the year.
Man, too, must pass through life’s autumn of death
And have his heart frozen by winter’s cold breath,
But spring always comes with new life and birth,
Followed by summer to warm the soft earth …
And oh, what a comfort to know there are reasons
That souls, like nature, must too
have their seasons—
Bounteous seasons and barren ones, too,
Times for rejoicing and times to be blue …
For with nothing but sameness
how dull life would be,
For only life’s challenge can set the soul free …
And it takes a mixture of both bitter and sweet
To season our lives and make them complete.
My days are so crowded and my hours so few
And I can no longer work fast like I used to do.
But I know I must learn to be satisfied,
That God has not completely denied
The joy of working—at a much slower pace—
For as long as He gives me a little place
To work with Him in His vineyard of love,
Just to know that He’s helping me from above
Gives me strength to meet each day
As I travel along life’s changing way.
April comes with cheeks a-glowing,
Silver streams are all a-flowing,
Flowers open wide their eyes
In lovely rapturous surprise.
Lilies dream beside the brooks,
Violets in meadow nooks,
And the birds gone wild with glee
Fill the woods with melody.
A garden of asters in varying hues,
Crimson pinks and violet blues,
Blossoming in the hazy fall,
Wrapped in autumn’s lazy pall …
But early frost stole in one night,
And like a chilling, killing blight
It touched each pretty aster’s head,
And now the garden’s still and dead,
And all the lovely flowers that bloomed
Will soon be buried and entombed
In winter’s icy shroud of snow …
But oh, how wonderful to know
That after winter comes the spring
To breathe new life in everything,
And all the flowers that fell in death
Will be awakened by spring’s breath …
For in God’s plan both men and flowers
Can only reach bright, shining hours
By dying first to rise in glory
And prove again the Easter story.
I come to meet You, God, and as I linger here
I seem to feel You very near.
A rustling leaf, a rolling slope
Speak to my heart of endless hope.
The sun just rising in the sky,
The waking birdlings as they fly,
The grass all wet with morning dew
Are telling me I just met You …
And gently thus the day is born
As night gives way to breaking morn,
And once again I’ve met You, God,
And worshipped on Your holy sod …
For who could see the dawn break through
Without a glimpse of heaven and You?
For who but God could make the day
And softly put the night away?
Flowers sleeping ‘neath the snow,
Awakening when the spring winds blow,
Leafless trees so bare before
Gowned in lacy green once more,
Hard, unyielding, frozen sod
Now softly carpeted by God,
Still streams melting in the spring
Rippling over rocks that sing,
Barren, windswept, lonely hills
Turning gold with daffodils—
These miracles are all around
Within our sight and touch and sound,
As true and wonderful today
As when the stone was rolled away,
Proclaiming to all doubting men
That in God all things live again.
You can’t hold back the dawn
or stop the tides from flowing
Or keep a rose from withering
or still a wind that’s blowing,
And time cannot be halted in
its swift and endless flight,
For age is sure to follow youth
like day comes after night …
For He who sets our span of
years and watches from above
Replaces youth and beauty
with peace and truth and love,
And then our souls are privileged
to see a hidden treasure
That in youth escapes our eyes
in our pursuit of pleasure …
So passing years are but blessings
that open up the way
To the everlasting beauty
of God’s eternal day.
Memory opens wide the door
on a happy day like this,
And with a sweet nostalgia
we longingly recall,
The happy days of long ago
that seem the best of all …
But time cannot be halted in
its swift and endless flight,
And age is sure to follow youth
as day comes after night,
And once again it’s proven that
the restless brain of man
Is powerless to alter God’s great,
unchanging plan …
But while our steps grow slower
and we grow more tired, too,
The soul goes roaring upward
to realms untouched and new,
Where God’s children live forever
in the beauty of His love.
Where does time go in its endless flight?
Spring turns to fall and day to night,
And birthdays come and birthdays go,
And where they go we do not know …
But God, who planned our life on earth
And gave our minds and bodies birth
And then enclosed a living soul
With heaven as the spirit’s goal,
Has given man the gift of choice
To follow that small inner voice
That speaks to us from year to year,
Reminding us we’ve naught to fear …
For birthdays are a stepping stone
To endless joys as yet unknown—
So fill each day with happy things,
And may your burdens all take wing
And fly away and leave behind
Great joy of heart and peace of mind …
For birthdays are the gateway to
An endless life of joy for you
If you but pray from day to day
That He will show you the truth and the way.
Long, long ago in a land far away,
There came the dawn of the first Easter day,
And each year we see the promise reborn
That God gave the world on that first Easter morn.
For in each waking flower and each singing bird
The promise of Easter is witnessed and heard,
And spring is God’s way of speaking to men
And renewing the promise of Easter again …
For death is a season that man must pass through,
And just like the flowers, God wakens him, too,
So why should we grieve when our loved ones die,
For we’ll meet them again in a cloudless sky.
For Easter is more than a beautiful story—
It’s the promise of life and eternal glory.
All nature heeds the call of spring
as God awakens everything,
And all that seemed so dead and still
experiences a sudden thrill
As springtime lays a magic hand
across God’s vast and fertile land.
Oh, the joy in standing by
to watch a sapphire springtime sky
Or see a fragile flower break through
what just a day ago or two
Seemed barren ground still hard with frost,
for in God’s world, no life is lost,
And flowers sleep beneath the ground,
but when they hear spring’s waking sound,
They push themselves through layers of clay
to reach the sunlight of God’s day.
And man and woman, like flowers, too,
must sleep until called from the darkened deep
To live in that place where angels sing
and where there is eternal spring.
From one birthday to another
God will gladly give
To everyone who seeks Him and
tries each day to live
A little bit more closely to
God and to each other,
Seeing everyone who passes as a
neighbor, friend, or brother,
Not only joy and happiness but
the faith to meet each trial
Not with fear and trepidation
but with an inner smile …
For we know life’s never measured
by how many years we live
But by the kindly things we do
and the happiness we give.
Who said the darkness of the
night would never turn to day?
Who said the winter’s bleakness
would never pass away?
Who said the fog would never lift
and let the sunshine through?
Who said the skies, now overcast,
would nevermore be blue?
Why should we ever entertain
these thoughts so dark and grim
And let the brightness of our
minds grow cynical and dim
When we know beyond all
questioning that winter turns to spring
And on the notes of sorrow
new songs are made to sing?
For no one sheds a teardrop or suffers loss in vain,
Because God is always there to
turn our losses into gain …
And every burden borne today
and every present sorrow
Are but God’s happy harbingers of a joyous,
bright tomorrow.
What a wonderful time is life’s autumn,
when the leaves of the trees are all gold,
When God fills each day as He sends
it with memories, priceless and old.
What a treasure-house filled with rare
jewels are the blessings of year upon year,
When life has been lived as you’ve lived it
in a home where God’s presence is near …
May the deep meaning surrounding this day,
like the paintbrush of God up above,
Touch your life with wonderful blessings.
Sometimes the road of life seems
long as we travel through the years
And with a heart that’s broken
and eyes brimful of tears,
We falter in our weariness
and sink beside the way,
But God leans down and whispers,
“Child, there’ll be another day,”
And the road will grow much
smoother and much easier to face,
So do not be disheartened,
this is just a resting place.