The Four Seasons

I was born and raised in the Midwest so my instant frame of reference  tied to the four seasons consist of the names, Summer, Winter, Spring, and Fall. (We call it Fall in rural Missouri—not sure who calls it autumn.) As I sit here contemplating the subject , this question occurs to me.  Which season is first? Calendar-wise, that would be Winter. However, according to life cycles, one could argue for Spring.

At any rate, for twenty-one years I saw the four seasons delineated: Spring brought rain with grass, alfalfa and clover fields greening up. Baby calves were born and flowers bloomed.

Summer meant humidity along with a gambler’s toss of rain or drought. Getting the right amount of rain and dry times would make or break the corn crop planted in late spring and brought lots of fresh peas, green beans and tomatoes in home gardens.

 Fall means harvesting time to a farmer; pick corn, combine wheat, bale hay and dig matured root crops in the garden like potatoes and onions. Pumpkins, zucchini and cucumbers would also be picked and canned or frozen.

Winter brings onslaughts of snow and too often, freezing rain. But winter also meant walking to the “north forty” and chopping down the perfect Christmas tree, putting it up in the living room, decorating it with a star that harked back to the early 1940’s and enjoying that spicy, cedar-y smell from the tree for two weeks.

Then I moved West.

Having now lived over two-thirds of my life in Wyoming and Nevada means that my experience of the four seasons shows a decrease in number. Wyoming’s seasons are often Winter, Winter, Winter, and two weeks each of Spring, Summer, and Fall—if it’s a mild year. (There are some areas of Wyoming that don’t adhere to these seasonal vagaries, but they don’t cluster around I-80.)

Nevada also sometimes has years consisting of Winter, Winter, Whatever, and Winter. However, we do often have a month of Spring in June, followed by one-two months of Summer in July and August. September is often equivocal and October is usually Fall/Winter. Followed once more by Winter—generally lots of it.

This is all OK as far as I’m concerned. Like Louis Armstrong wrote, “That lucky Ol’ Sun keeps rollin’ ‘round heaven all day.” And that leads me to think of a favorite hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” The second verse says something about summer and winter, springtime and harvest and the way God keeps all the seasons as well as day and night in order and on time. That’s a pretty heavy task and I’m glad He’s up to it.