Life's just peachy.

Seasons. I am thankful that I have grown up in a place with 4 seasons. People ask what is my favorite season? And you know what? I don't have one! Now, aside from disliking choosing favorite things to begin with, I am serious about this one. Each season brings it's own joys and treasures: snow! frigid air that makes hot chocolate what it really was meant to be. new life. warm air. bright sunny days. the beach! delicious fruits. fall colors. brisk days. leaf piles! i could go on. The point is that there is something surprisingly refreshing about the change of the seasons.

The last time I left for Spain, I read a book right before I left : Through Painted Deserts by Don Miller. It's about his cross country road trip. So in the spirits of my trip this time around, I figured I would leaf through the book. I came across this quotation and I find it quite fitting to share with you: "The seasons remind me that I must keep changing, and I want to change because it is God's way. All my life I have been changing... Everybody has to change, or they expire... I want to keep my soul fertile for the changes, so things keep getting born in me, so things keep dying when it is time for things to die..." (p. x)

As I retype this passage, I think about my trip. I'm not quite sure what it's going to look like, but I think I will change in some way (for the better!) because of it. This is where I'm at in life right now. I have this amazing opportunity.



A week ago I got to go pick peaches! It was my first time EVER picking fruit, let alone peaches. As a wonderful treat, my friend took us behind the scenes of the orchards. The whole time, I thought about life lessons from this orchard. We looked at how different trees produce different fruits. How even the same type of peach trees will produce a different amount of fruit. Sometimes, the tree doesn't bear any fruit in that season. But it's in a re-growing process... or something of the sort. And that doesn't make it any less valuable.

Growing takes time. Life takes time. Changes take time. And patience. And there are a lot of external factors (wind, sun, rain, drought... new relationships, old relationships, death, school, new jobs...) that affect growth. Some is in our control and much is not. At the end of the day, our tour guide again shared his wisdom. He invited me and my friends back and reminded us, "With the change of season comes new scenery."

Going to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches...