Pumpkin Spice EVERYTHING is Back!

Driving through Starbucks and ordering that delectable pumpkin beverage with it’s spicy cinnamon appeal brings warm feelings that Fall is in the air!

Maybe some of you like summer and hate when it comes to an end. That definitely isn’t me! Not by a long shot! Once the fireworks of the Fourth of July have flamed out, and the last piece of corn on the cob has been eaten, I AM SO READY FOR FALL!

Bring on those cozy sweaters! Light those fireplaces and curl up with a warm blanket! Cook, eat and bake everything pumpkin! I even bought a magazine full of new fall pumpkin recipes! My heart and my spirit were ready to drive-through Starbucks, order that pumpkin spice latte and a pumpkin scone, put on a cozy sweater or sweatshirt, light the fire and watch college football! Oh Yes, and begin school! And now, Labor Day is in the rearview mirror, and none of this has happened.

Neither Mother Nature nor COVID-19 is cooperating! Smoke in the air, heat waves are abounding, no indoor dining is open, we can’t use the restroom at Starbucks, kids are still at home, no Friday night lights high school football, and my favorite college team isn’t even playing! This doesn’t feel like Fall. And it certainly doesn’t feel like “normal!“

Nothing right now feels normal! But the truth is, transitions happen all the time! In fact the change that I was just talking about from summer to fall is in fact a transition. The problem is it is not transitioning the way I want it to transition! It is in fact, it is not meeting my expectations!

Let me introduce the definition of transition. 

‘Transition is: ‘movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another; change is constant!’

The truth is most of the cells in your body are different than they were six months ago. Transitions happen regularly in our lives. And it is a good thing that they do. Without change and without transition we become stagnant! Stagnant in my definition from above, would mean that it stays summer all year long. That is not good news for someone like me! And truly it’s not good news for you either! My family and I always hate it when Christmas comes to an end. We love Christmas so much! As I am tucking my grand children into bed on Christmas night, they often say, I wish it was Christmas every day! Can you imagine? At first it would be wonderful! But eventually it would lead to monotony at best and gluttony at worst! Change is necessary and good. One of the things I love most about God is that He knows this, but He also knows us! God knows that change is difficult. So, He has allowed transitions! Transitions can take us smoothly from one change to the next if we allow them to.

Can you imagine if we went from the dead of summer to the middle of December overnight? It would be such a shock to our systems!

Just as the physical shock of sudden change without transition can bring shock to our physical bodies, the shock of the “normal“ to something different without smooth transitions can bring shock to our spiritual self as well!

So the big question is, “how do we transition through these unknown, ab normal, uncertain times?“

We trust in the ONE who it doesn’t surprise at all! He is our constant! He never changes and nothing takes Him by surprise! Clinging to this Truth keeps us constant through the change and transitions!

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

God’s awesome, unchanging nature is our anchor point! It is our solid rock! It is the sure and true foundation that we can stand on regardless of the change and the transitions all around us!

“I LOVE YOU LORD; YOU ARE MY STRENGTH! THE LORD IS MY ROCK, MY FORTRESS, AND MY SAVIOR; MY GOD IS MY ROCK, IN WHOM I FIND PROTECTION!  HE IS MY SHIELD, THE POWER THAT SAVES ME AND MY PLACE OF SAFETY!” Psalm 118:1-2

TRUTH BOMB

WHEN LIFE GET’S OUT OF HAND, ON CHRIST THE SOLID ROCK I STAND!

As much as I’d love to throw a pity party for myself, and pout and act like a child who doesn’t get her fall sweater, her warm fuzzy blanket and her college football game while sipping her pumpkin spice latte, I know God wants more of me!

He wants me to remember His faithfulness to me in the past as I go through the change and transitions of the present!

So I want to close today with what I cling to when transition and change is happening all around me. I remember the songs of my youth and hold to their eternal Truth!

“On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand! ALL OTHER GROUND IS SINKING SAND!”

Cling to the TRUTH my friends as our heads feel like they’re about to sink and go under, Christ is the solid rock on which we stand!

Speak Truth Love