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| Billie Silvey |
| The Seasons of the SOUL |
| May 2007 |
| "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,... a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance..." --Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 |
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| Springtime |
| Early in his career, the artist Paul Cezanne painted four panels depicting the four seasons. The figure of a woman engaged in activities and decorated as befits the season represents the periods of a woman's life. She also can stand for the seasons of the soul. |
| Spring is lithe, youthful and free. Dancing with a garland of seasonal flowers, she has all the freshness of a well-watered garden, when prayers come easily, and we feel as if we are walking in perfect step with God's will. |
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| Summer |
| Summer is a fruitful time of strength and activity. This woman is more mature and serious, with her hair drawn back and her energies applied to productive effort. The summer of life is an active time of child-bearing, nurturing, career-development, and homebuilding. In the summer of the soul, we give our all to God's work, feeling great energy and satisfaction. |
| Fall |
| Fall is a fruitful time of harvest, of growing maturity, of enjoying family and friends and reaping the rewards of a productive life. It is also a time to reach out and share our fruit-- physical, spiritual and experiential--with others. It can be a time of spiritual discernment and growing wisdom. |
| Winter |
| The winter of life is a quieter time of contemplation and of a wiser use of waning energies. It can be a time of renewed spiritual growth. "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." --2 Corinthians 4:16-18 |
| I like the fact that the woman who represents winter is looking off the page. I'm in the winter of life, and I don't know what's coming next. But, based on my experience of living through the first three, and trusting God to guide my way, I'm looking forward to it. |
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