Apache Seasons

This weather has been fantastic. Yes, it rained yesterday, but s touch of spring definitely is in the air.  It's been such a pleasure opening all the windows and letting the house air out.  I know this is probably just a 'tease'.  After all, the weatherman has been saying something about light snow on Friday, and I remember the Easter Sunday snowstorm of1970.  I still lived in northern New Jersey at the time.  Over a foot of snow piled up that March 29th.  Needless to say, no one went to Easter mass on that day.  Anyone else remember that storm?

Most of us, myself included, have spent some time during the last month or so grumbling about the winter as we anxiously awaited the arrival of spring.  Who can blame us?  Day after day of skies of gray are getting to all of us.  But I also remember, only a few short months ago, looking forward to the solitude that winter brings for that is one of its gifts.  Winter forces us to go within, and we all need that once in awhile.  So, with that in mind I'd like to share the following story with you.  It speaks of the seasons and how each season has its own gift to offer us.

There was an Apache chief who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly.

So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away. The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall. When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen. The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son said no, it was covered with green buds and full of promise. The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen. The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The Apache man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life. 

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up. If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.