To Everything a Season

    I slung my grooming bag up over my shoulder and trudged to the barn. Snow crunched beneath my boots and sparkling flakes fell from the sky. It was a beautiful day, but not my idea of the perfect weather for my horse and I. After all, I couldn't ride thanks to a thick layer of ice on the ground.

   I haltered Reba and tied her to the gate, taking several minutes to curry her coat and loosen the generous coating of mud that she had so thoughtfully rolled in that morning. I picked out her hooves, wrestling for the first three because she had somehow forgotten, during her winter break, how to keep still. By the time it was all said and done, I was covered in mud from hooves, fighting off shedding horse hair, and wishing desperately for spring.
   Honestly, when I take a look at the mounds of snow in my corral or slip on a patch of ice out at the barn, I find it difficult to be content. All I want is for the snow to dissolve and the sun to welcome me out for a good ride on my horse.
   In North Dakota however, the doesn't happen very quickly.
   But as I packed away my brushes, and jammed the hoof pick in my pocket, I felt a velvety nose nip my hat. I looked up and Reba tossed her head, begging for a treat, or a scratch in her favorite spot. I always oblige and she melted my heart with a throaty nicker. In a single moment, despite the snow, the ice, and the cold, I am happy.

   I can enjoy the several feet of snow that drift over my corral - it gives me a break from working Reba and I too hard.
   I can enjoy the mud that tried to get the better of my brushes - it means spending more time with my horse.
   I can enjoy this season where riding is difficult - it gives me time to refresh my mind and body to take on the challenges of spring with renewed excitement.

   I can be content in this season - because no matter how bleak it may seem, there is always a purpose.

   Contentment isn't being in a place where your surroundings make you happy. Contentment is finding joy in the situation you have already been given.
    In every new season, we grow, we change, we encounter something different - and this is just the way God created it to be. Every new adventure or challenge that He places into our lives is preparing us for something greater and slowly refining in us a heart after His.
   Embrace the ups, the downs, and the sideways. He never makes mistakes, and sunshine is always just above the clouds, waiting for you to appreciate it a little better.
   

"To everything there is a season,  and a time to every purpose under heaven:" Ecclesiastes 3:1