Green Up

     My son and I were in Ecuador this past March and during one of our tours, the guide was describing seasons on the Equator.  He said that each year has four seasons: The first dry season, the first wet season, the second dry season and the second wet season.  Temperatures stay fairly consistent.  The amount of light that they get stays fairly consistent.  It is just that some days have more rain than other days.

     Fairbanks is a little different.  We can go from 90 degrees in the summer to -60 degrees in the winter.  We go from 22 hours of light in the summer to 2 hours in the winter.  We have definite seasons...sort of.  We all know about winter.  It lasts the longest and is what we are most famous for.  Summers are fairly clear.  It is hot out, there are mosquitoes and lots and lots of sun.  Unless it is a wildfire season, then the sun is obscured by the smoke.  Other than that...and the occasional June snowstorm, summers are fairly stable.  Fall is kind of vague.  Usually there is some transition time between summer and winter, often marked by dropping temperatures and rain that coincides with the state fair.  I say "usually" because most years it is a race between the sky and the trees to see whether the leaves will fall off the trees before the ground is covered with snow.  Snow covered ground is generally the indicator that winter has begun, so our winters usually start anytime from September 1st through the end of October.  I've always had a white Halloween.

     Then we have spring which is open to anyone's interpretation.  No one really knows if we are in spring or not because Fairbanks springs are rollercoaster rides.  They usually involve snowstorms and melts, freezing rain, huge puddles, piles of garbage revealed by melting snow and then, somehow, summer is here.  Is it summer now?  I'm not sure.  There is still snow on the ground and the trees have no leaves...but the temperature is not dropping below freezing anymore...mostly.

     Fairbanks spring is essentially comprised of two Ups:  Break-Up and Green-Up.  Break-Up is the transition from winter.  The temperatures are warming, the snow is melting from the roads and the roofs.  The hard pack of ice that covered driveways is becoming slush.  Everything becomes gray and dirty as the snow dissipates and reveals gravel and debris that accumulated over the past six months.  It is ugly but people are so happy because the air no longer hurts to breath.  Green-Up is the transition to summer.  The trees have been bare for months and the land is gray.  Two days ago we got a nice large rainfall.  Yesterday the sun was out and shining for most of the day.  Today there are buds beginning to open on trees.  In three days everything will be green.  Green-Up happens all at once after a long season of build up.

     I am in a period of transition and it feels a lot like our spring.  I am almost done with the Break-Up piece; the transition out of Morning Star is almost complete.  I am not to the Green-Up part yet where I am transitioning into something new.  I am in the part of spring that everyone despises...the Waiting-Up, if you will.  It's not winter.  It's not summer.  It's just dealing with the garbage that has been revealed and trying to get ready for when summer hits.  I've put in some job applications and had some great healing prayer this past weekend.  I'm doing chores around the house and playing with kids and doing some writing and...just waiting to see what doors open next.  Will that be tomorrow?  Will that be in two weeks?  I don't know.

     For all of you who are Waiting just like I am for the next season of your life to begin, I can only offer you encouragement.  Spend your time well, dealing with the garbage in your heart and in your house.  Prepare yourself to be ready to respond when Green-Up hits, for it will be sudden.  This time will not last forever, summer is coming.