Enjoy the Season! (A Short Story)

“Come on, James, let’s go play in the snow!”

James looked up lethargically. His brother already had his snow bibs on and was energetically pulling boots over his feet.

“All right, I guess I’ll go. But I do wish it wasn’t so cold! I can’t wait for summer,” James grumbled.

For a brief moment, Eric felt tempted to complain about the cold too. But then the boys’ father walked into the room and offered to go sledding with them. One look at his father’s face wiped all thought of complaint from Eric’s mind. How could he complain when his father was with them? Besides, he also remembered how much he and his brother had longed for the cool weather last summer. He wasn’t going to complain about the cold! He was going to enjoy the season!

“It will be summer again soon enough,” he told James as they headed out the door. “Let’s enjoy winter while it’s here!”

*****
Eric and James were keeping quite busy. Between finishing their schoolwork and all their other spring activities, they could hardly find any time for play or relaxation.

“Oh, man, I just wish things would slow down!” James moaned. “I do wish planting season would hurry up and end. I can’t wait to rest and relax in the summer.” James was just trying to survive the busy planting season.

Eric paused for a moment on his shovel to think about his brother’s words. “I’m sure father wouldn’t give us more work to do than we could handle,” he reflected. “He loves us so perfectly. This hard work must be just what we need. I’m going to choose to enjoy it!”

“But we can’t possibly get it all done!” James countered.

Eric knew James was right. They had more things to do than they could ever hope to finish. James’ words brought the weight of all that needed done pressing down on Eric’s shoulders. Then Eric remembered—it was his father’s problem to figure out how everything would get done! Eric was only responsible for doing each task with a full heart. The smile returned to Eric’s face. He didn’t have to carry the burden; he just needed to be diligent with the tasks his father had given him.

*****
Spring eventually ended and summertime came. Now, instead of having too much to do, the boys seemed to have the opposite problem. Besides keeping the crops watered and the grass mowed, there wasn’t much to do.

The inactivity, coupled with the summer heat, was taxing on the boys. Yet both chose drastically different responses. As he had in the past, James chose to complain. He longed for something—anything—exciting to happen. And he longed for a relief from the heat!

Eric, however, again chose to rejoice in the season. Although he, like James, felt the heat, he knew autumn would come soon enough, bringing cooler temperatures. And while he liked excitement just as much as his brother, Eric chose to use the quiet summer season to spend extra special time with his father. He spent hours sitting at his father’s workbench listening—and learning. The more he sat there, the more confident he became that his father would give him just what he needed in each season of life. He had only to trust and delight.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1