God’s gifts put man’s best dreams to shame.” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Why is contentment so hard to achieve?  A great question brought to my mind this morning as I was walking through my garden enjoying the beautiful roses that are still blooming.  It is mid September here in Colorado and each year about this time, I get a second blooming season from my rose garden.  Heavenly.

The temperature for the next week will be in the upper 80’s yet when I walk into the area stores it is all about the fall decor, pumpkin spice galore!  I even heard a lady this morning say to the grocery store clerk, “ I wish this nice weather would hurry up and get out of here so I can put on a sweater and drink a pumpkin spice latte.”  She wasn’t teasing. In Colorado the fall season is typically shortened by a snow storm so I plan on enjoying the sunshine and roses until then. Not wanting to wish away the last days of summer.

Why do we wish things away?  When we are young we want to hurry up and be adults and then when we are adults we wish we could have some carefree days like when we were young.  When our kids are toddlers we wish they would be potty trained and not so needy and then when we drop those kids off at college we long for the days when we could ready stories to them and snuggle on the couch.

My outlook on contentment certainly has been skewed by my experience of having breast cancer.  It really gave me the gift of enjoying each day, each season of life – not only in nature but with my family and my work.  Seasons are just that, temporary moments in time.  Sometimes sunny and bright and other times dark and cold.  Whatever season you find yourself in, my prayer for you today is that you will enjoy it, learn from it, embrace it , don’t wish it away.

Pumpkin spice lattes will be enjoyed soon enough, today is an iced tea, rose filled kind of day.  I plan on enjoying it.