This morning Jacob and I did something we rarely get to do these days.

We sat… on the couch… together.

Crazy, I know.

We had finished breakfast with the kids and I was freezing, so I snuggled up on the couch below a fuzzy, red and white checked blanket. It’s one of those blankets that has a pattern on one side and what can only be described as baby llama fur on the other side. (Hopefully it’s not *actually* baby llama fur. Pretty sure it’s not. Should I go check??) I had just started to beg anyone and everyone in the house to bring their body heat over to warm me up when Jacob brought over a huge mug and said something like, “Your quad vanilla latte.” “Quad? What does that even mean?” I asked with a giggle. He sat down next to me, his latte in hand, and placed his hand on my blanket-covered leg.

He never did answer my question.

We sat for a few minutes, as the kids each took their turns coming in, sticking their freezing feet on me, and then going back to the playroom to fight over the critters that live in a small playhouse on the table in the corner. I don’t remember what we talked about, or if we even talked, but it was a really sweet moment for me. The rain had just begun to fall and I was sipping my latte with my favorite person.

As I reflected on what I felt thankful for today, the words “warm drinks and cozy weather” came to mind. I laughed to myself, Of course a latte is at the top of my thankful list… how basic am I?

But as I thought about it, I tried to identify what was behind the love of a warm drink and Fall weather and it was the word “Seasons”. At the end of each season, I’m ready for the next. I’m all Summered/Wintered/Whatevered-out and I’m so ready for the next season. That’s the way we were created, to crave change so that we can appreciate that change — in essence, to feel thankful for a new season. Obviously, I am talking here about actual seasons, like my current love for Fall. But, we all know that there are also seasons that have nothing to do with the weather.

There are seasons of joy and seasons of sorrow, seasons of loneliness and seasons of abundance. There’s the newlywed season and the empty-nester one, the staying awake with teeny tiny babies season and the one where you lay awake worrying about your teenagers. Not all seasons are happy and not all are hard. But don’t we appreciate the good seasons when we’ve just come out of a bad one? I can’t tell you how many times the moms of the high school seniors I photograph have said to me, “Teenagers are so fun, but enjoy those baby snuggles. I miss that.” I feel thankful for that perspective.

I’m thankful for the season we are currently in and the ones we’ve enjoyed or endured. I feel hopeful for the ones to come, whether they be easy or difficult, because I know that for everything there is a season.

What has been your favorite season of life thus far? What are you thankful for today?

 

“For everything there is a season…” Ecclesiastes 3:1