Over half of the world's population suffers with allergies in some form. For most it is a reminder of the changing of seasons, for others it is a little more detailed than that. I suffer from the former. I get a nasty cold when seasons change. Dr. Greene, my voice proffessor tells me I should always be taking mucinex. Unfortunately I do not and just live with my tylenol and suffer through.

But it is amazing to me that something as simple and common as a stuffy nose, watery eyes, sneezing, and/or congestion can be used to remind us that the seasons of the year are changing. No longer is it spring, it is now summer, no longer summer but fall, etc. If only the seasons of our lives were as easily detected.

If only we were given a stuffy nose every time a time in our life has passed. Then we could simply chalk it up to a time of our life passing and understand it's over and something new is just over the horizon that will take us somewhere far more grand than the place of complacency we have found ourselves. If only we could face the turmoils of our lives with an attitude of "well seasons change" and take up what is left behind and move forward. If only we were given some sort of notice of "THIS SEASON IS CHANGING IN YOUR LIFE, LET'S SEE WHAT'S NEXT." Unfortunately we are mostly left with the feeling of "what is going on? I thought my life was headed this direction." or "I can't believe he passed away. He was headed for great things and I needed him" or "Where do I go from here?"

Life is notoriously known for throwing little kinks into the plans we make. And by life, I mean God. We come to find ourselves in places of comfort and knowledge of the world around us just when God says, "not anymore, let's put you somewhere completely new, surround you with new people with new experiences to be experienced." When this happens we find our minds being plagued with doubt. We sit and think "I know that this is going to turn out fine, yet I am scared out of my mind. I wasn't prepared for this, I am not ready." I'm pretty sure that God finds that slightly insulting. He knows us. He gave us our desires, passions, abilities, and futures. He puts us on the path to those things. We think the path to our destiny to be straight once we lean on God but the fact of the matter is, the road with God is more bumpy than most would think.

As Christians we are tried and tested. We have to fight to show God our faith. It isn't a battle in the sense of swords and shields, but a battle of showing how we will give our lives to bring glory to His name. God is a jealous God and wants to know that you love Him. He tests us, tries us, and protects us all the while. Once we are in the situations that we were so petrified of we lean on God more than ever and this is lovely to Him. We end up coming through them and being fine, just as God promised. We are thankful for the experience and the trial. It is through those things that we discovered more about ourselves and our God.

It doesn't mean that it's easy. It doesn't mean that when seasons change in our lives that we are prepared for them, but with the knowledge of our Loving Creator, we can accept them a little more gracefully, hopefully. If not, God knows how to get us up and out of our corners and prepares us for the dance of a lifetime. That is exciting.

If only we had a stuffy nose to know it was coming.