I’ve been feeling tired lately. I struggle to get out of bed in the morning. I feel sleepy throughout the day. The days are getting shorter, too, and I feel like I am not getting much done. All of this could make me very depressed, but it doesn’t. Instead I feel peace, because I am beginning to understand the seasons.

In Spring, I felt energized, ready to plant anything I could! I got out in the garden, made up pots of veggies, planted seeds and watered them faithfully until they popped up from under the soil and reached out to the sunlight.

In Summer it was hot. There were days when I was physically tired from working hard in the garden - from hauling water from the bathtub to the tender plants that were struggling in the harsh heat. I was excited to see tomatoes starting to form on the vines, and oh, the fruit growing bigger on the trees! It was invigorating! I watered, I weeded, and tried to stay cool.

At the end of Summer, and early Autumn I brought in my harvest. I did some canning and freezing. I started to get tired, but the end was in sight. The leaves began to fall from the trees. The frost came and killed the rest of my veggie garden. My body started to lose its momentum… and I started to get tired.

I found this poem a few days ago. It expresses what I am feeling:

Who Loves the Trees Best?

 

 

Who loves the trees best?

“I,” said the Spring;

“Their leaves so beautiful,

To them I bring.”

 

Who loves the trees best?

“I,” Summer said;

“I give them blossoms,

White, yellow, red.”

 

Who loves trees best?

“I,” said the Fall;

“I give luscious fruits,

Bright tints to all.”

 

Who loves trees best?

“I love them best,”

Harsh Winter answered

“I give them rest.”

 

by Alice May Douglas

 

Winter brings rest. I now know why I am tired. It is time for my body to rest and it is part of a simple life to give in to this rest.

Somehow in our modern lives we have decided that we don’t need to follow the seasons anymore. In days gone by, people went to bed with the sun and got up with it too. Did they fuss in the winter when the days were shorter? From reading books like Little House on the Prairie, I have learned that they went along with the seasons. In winter the men mended and maintained their tools. The women quilted and sewed. They accepted a season of rest.

We don’t need to do that anymore. We have electricity and can stay up way past dark, working. We can drive at night, keep up all our activities, and not slow down one bit during winter. It is not an accepted thing anymore to slow down during the winter season. We must all keep going, a hundred miles an hour, in the hustle and bustle of what we now call life.

I want to follow the seasons. I need a season of rest. My body tells me so. My heart tells me so. And the seasons tell me so. Now is the season to hunker down with my children. It’s time to light the fire and sit on the couch, reading stories to each other. It’s time to pull out the unfinished sewing projects. It’s time to use my preserves and have a stew cooking on the stove all day. It is time to enjoy the hard work of the seasons gone by. It is time for a season of rest.