To Everything, a Season: Hope & Humility

 

 “I hope I can be the autumn leaf, who looked at the sky and lived. 

And when it was time to leave, gracefully it knew life was a gift.” 

— Dodinsky, (Author of the bestselling gift book series In The Garden of Thoughts)

I’ve been reflecting on when and how to step back into this space. As the seasons shift into autumn, the changes feel deeply personal this year. While my heart is full of gratitude for the beautiful family and blessings God has given me, I’m also walking through unfamiliar territory—learning to navigate being a mother and wife without my own parents here to guide me. Holding both the grief and the joy isn't easy, but it’s the path I’m learning to walk. ​When the absence of my parents feels heaviest, Lamentations 3 brings me peace: while an earthly chapter has closed, God's steadfast love and presence have never wavered.

For most of my life, Summer has always been my favorite season, full of bright sunshine that offered an effortless pull toward adventure and possibility. I lived for the spontaneous moments that the days might bring, and I never really gave much thought to any other season, aside from the holidays that accompanied them.

Autumn has become a season of quiet grace for me in recent years. It brings a cozy invitation to pause, gather my thoughts, and wrap my heart in gratitude. Flowing from the end of Summer into the beginning of Autumn, there is also a return to a daily routine and rhythm that feels like a fresh start. More than anything, this time of year reminds me of the beauty of humility—the peace that comes from clearing out the background noise to refocus on who God created me to be. It begins the way healing often does: with an intentional breath and an honest acceptance of the season I'm walking through.

As I reflect on seasonal shifts and busy rhythms that we often find ourselves in, it occurs to me that God never intended for us to bloom all year long. He offers an example of purposeful flow that occurs in nature that contradicts with the culture of the world we live in today. Ecclesiastes 3:1 reminds us, "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven." When the chilly air of autumn sets in, it gently ushers us into the intertwined seasons of humility and hope—two virtues that require the landscape of our hearts to empty before they can truly be filled. The way grace works, these two moments aren't opposites—they can't exist without each other. When the world around us demands that we have all the answers, be everywhere and be everything to everyone all the time, it’s important to remember that we can only control the responsibilities laid out for our unique life.

The to-do list might feel miles long, but when we look at what truly matters, God clarifies exactly where to focus. 1 Corinthians 16:13–14 reminds us to “Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything with love.” Scripture simplifies our focus even further in 1 Corinthians 10:31—to do everything for the glory of God—even the smallest ordinary tasks find their purpose.

Humility helps us stop comparing long enough to see what God has actually placed in our hands. It brings us back to the present. It brings us back to gratitude. It brings us back to service. It brings us back to love.

So perhaps the question isn't, “Why don't I have what they have?”

Perhaps the question is:

“What has God placed before me in this moment and in this season that requires my full attention?”

The answer may reveal more about where our hearts are than we realize.

What distractions do I need to release?

What am I trying to control that I need to surrender?

Where am I comparing instead of being grateful?

Where am I allowing fear to become louder than faith?

And where is God quietly asking me to choose love?

Maybe the goal isn't to rush through our current season in hopes of reaching another one.

Maybe the goal is to recognize the season we are actually in—and meet God there.

With humility. With grace. With gratitude. With hope.

We don't have to understand everything.

We don't have to get everything right.

We don't have to control every outcome.

We simply have to trust that God is here, right in this moment, and be willing to notice Him.

There is not always glamour in slowing down and paying attention to what every season-in nature and in our own personal lives-has to offer. Yet, in moments of frustration, I find relief from anxiety simply by pausing, breathing, and remembering that peace is possible. I still lose my cool sometimes, but God doesn't demand perfection. He just wants us to stay humble and hopeful so we can fix our mistakes and keep moving forward. Choosing love, hope, and humility is always the next right step. 

So, what season are you in right now?

And how can you hold onto hope in this particular moment by choosing humility over haughtiness, contentment over comparison, and love over fear?

Maybe that is where peace begins.  Maybe that is where hope begins.

And maybe that is where God is asking us to begin.

Keep smiling, and hold onto hope.

XOXOXO,

Sarah Mae

 

Real Life Application: Here are three simple, daily steps to take these deep reflections off the screen and move them into the routine of daily life:

1. The Morning "Hand-Over" (Surrender & Refocus)

Before checking the mile-long to-do list, take an intentional breath and look at your empty hands. Mentally release the pressure to control every outcome, to mimic someone else's timeline, or to be everything to everyone.

• The Practice: Ask yourself the foundational question from your reflection: “What has God placed before me in this exact moment that requires my full attention?” Commit to serving the specific family, tasks, and boundaries right in front of you for this single day.

2. The Midday "Rhythm Check" (Observe & Pivot)

When the midday rush hits, or when an unexpected wave of grief or frustration clouds your mind, pause for a sixty-second rhythm check. Notice if your inner world has gone on autopilot or if you are reacting out of exhaustion.

• The Practice: Catch yourself if you are looking sideways at others or trying to force a season of constant blooming. Step back, ground yourself in gratitude for a small blessing, and repeat the 1 Corinthians 16 blueprint to reset your stance: Be on guard, stand firm, be strong, and let everything be done in love.

3. The Evening "Glory Check" (Grit, Grace, & Gratitude)

At the end of the day, instead of measuring your worth by how many boxes you checked off, look at how you held the space you were given.

• The Practice: Pick one ordinary, seemingly invisible task you did today—whether it was making a meal, washing a dish, or sitting quietly with a heavy heart—and consciously acknowledge that it held eternal value because it was done for the glory of God. End the night by reminding your heart: I don't have to get everything right; I just have to trust that He is here.

Morning Musing

Hi Friends,  

If you’ve stopped by lately, you probably noticed that things have been pretty quiet around here. I will share where I have been but first bare with me as I type out my thoughts. This morning, as I’m helping the kiddos get ready for school and sipping on my much needed coffee, I’m reminded of a show I used to watch called “Early Edition”. 

Do you remember it? Did you watch it? It’s been a while since it first aired in 1996, but the opening monologue poses some thoughts that really make you think: “What if you knew beyond a doubt what was going to happen tomorrow? Sure, I know it's crazy, but what if you did? Whether you'd be rich or poor, a hero or a loser, lucky in love, unlucky in life; what would you do? What if, by some magic, you found the power to really change things...people, events, maybe even your life. Would you even know where to start? Maybe you can't know until it happens” (Chuck Fisherman, Early Edition). 

If you haven’t see it, it’s about this guy named Gary who is living his normal, everyday life and then one morning he wakes up and finds a newspaper at his door, along with a cat that will just not leave. You just gotta love the cat. Getting newspapers wasn’t an out of the ordinary thing back in the 1990’s. But this newspaper was a day early…..auhhhh yes it was an “early edition”. Somehow Gary had been given an unexpected job of receiving tomorrow’s newspaper today and he has to figure out what he’s going to do about it. And each episode provides a different storyline that follows what he decides to do about it. It comes with it’s challenges, blessings, joys and sorrows but Gary and the people around him get through it. 

 Real life isn’t meticulously planned, scripted and played out in front of us like it is on a screen. The scenarios we see and watch for entertainment already have the answers built in. However, we have been given the incredible gift of knowing the one and only God, if we so choose, and He already knows how our story is going to go, especially when we aren’t sure what lies ahead. We can choose to control the situation or turn to God and allow ourselves the silence and peace that comes with taking a step back and allowing a minute to think things through. Not every situation allows this much thought and preparation for what happens next. Which leads me to where I’ve been. 

  I had to press the pause button. It wasn’t intentional—which totally disconnects with my previous thoughts about “Being Intentional”. But the more I think about it the more sometimes stepping away is doing just that. It’s focusing on what God has put in front of you in that moment—and these last few years my focus has been on being a wife, mother and caregiver for my father who had a list of medical/health concerns accompanied with a form of dementia. I think it’s safe to say that my worldy foundation has been rocked, but my trust in God has remained steady….and I am not left unchanged. 

 God rarely leaves us unchanged—if we’re still the same after going through some of the stuff this world throws at us then we’re not paying attention. Life has a funny way of putting us through different stages of "remodeling". But God has an unshakable way of keeping our focus and prioritizes clear—we have to be willing to not only listen but be humble enough to put down the things that are distracting us from what God has given us—the most important people and experiences in life that only we have the ability to walk along side or live through. Through it all there will be tears, frustration, anger and words maybe we wish we had either left unsaid or worded better. But, there will also be moments of laughter, joy and learning because not one of us can say we’ve lived through this exact moment and experience in this way. We’re all just living life for the first time—and sometimes making things up as we go.

 Through the journey I’ve been on in the last several years, I’ve leaned heavily on my favorite book of the Bible and that is Lamentations 3. It gave me a deeper understanding of how sometimes living one minute at a time is what you have to do to make it to the end of the day, the end of the situation, even the very next moment. And just as God’s mercies are fresh every day, I have the chance to make amends, a chance to learn, a chance for new hope. I’ve learned a deeper understanding of how allowing grit, grace and gratitude can have a space in my life and allow for the strength it takes in life’s ongoing process of healing. And this my friends, is where the power is….this is where in the midst of the chaos we feel the peace that surpasses all understanding. We may not know what tomorrow’s headlines are going to look like….but we know God will be in it and walking alongside us. We are not alone and there is hope, dare I say in the unspoken, forced or genuine joy in a smile. 

 Thank you for your grace, your love, and for being part of this journey with me. I can’t wait to share what comes next as the scaffolding continues to come down. 

 Keep smiling, and hold onto hope. 

XOXOXO, 

Sarah Mae

Today is a Privilege

"When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love." - Marcus Aurelius

If we're going to be completely honest, we often make lists--gratitude lists, to-do lists, bucket-lists, life-lists, goals for the week, goals for the day, grocery lists, dream lists--whatever you want to call them, we make them. They feel good to make them, lists are motivating. Some lists are made and they sit somewhere gathering dust, while some people have the gumption to take the steps that it takes to make those lists a reality. But the lists that sit around collecting dust, get moved around, get thrown away--those lists are the ones that fall through the cracks. We make excuses as to why we can never do them. If's, when's and someday's are thrown out there and the list is forgotten.

Right now, in this very moment life feels so uncertain. We are literally being asked to stand still. Although our freedom of movement has been limited, we still have choices. There are things that we have no control over and there are others that are still completely in our control. We can live in fear and focus on how our lives have been restricted and those things we can't control. OR we can take a breathe and make the choice to look at what we still have in front of us. We have been given the gift of time. When in our lives will we be able to say that again--unless we intentionally plan it, take time off work for it, and make the time.

Let me tell you something--today is a privilege--some people will wake up tomorrow and their lives will be changed forever. That would have been true no matter what was happening in the world around us, despite that right now a pandemic is among us and we feel like our daily lives have been interrupted--which it has.

Right now, in this moment we are being asked to trust in God, our health care system, our governments-federal, state and local, our communities, our neighbors, our own families. We are being encouraged to take the time to see what is in front of us--maybe that old gratitude list is coming back and we are finally realizing the things of which we really need to be grateful. Perhaps, in this time we are looking our TRUE priorities in the face each day AND maybe, just maybe we are coming to the realization that our lives are just the way they have been meant to be. Perhaps, you have been taking your family for granted and this time has been given to you to give your family the gift of YOUR time. Maybe you keep thinking you need to keep searching for something else--if you just had that one more things you'd finally be happy. What if--just what if you have been given this time to simply get off social media and see that you already have been given what you have asked for so stop looking for more and start appreciating the life you live. Once you figure it out....that my friend, in itself is a privilege.

So, today--pause. Simply pause & take notice. We have only been given today and this moment in time. Yesterday is now in the past and tomorrow is yet to come. Answer these questions:

• What are you grateful for in this moment? 
• Personally, what is God asking you to pay attention to right now? (Do you need to focus on your kids more, your marriage more, your friendships more--or maybe even scarier than this pandemic--dig deep and look inside yourself and work on YOU.
• What have you noticed in this time of being asked to stay home & standstill? Do you like what you noticed or is something not working and you want to make a change?
• What is one thing you have been putting off that you can start today? 
• What will you choose to focus on today? Will, what you focus on breathe life into your soul? Or will it drag you further away from your purpose? 

For me I can easily answer that last question--simply taking the time to unplug, pause, take notice and be present in life. How might you answer these questions? 

NEWS: On April 1st I decided to pick up my Bible and start reading Psalms, reading one chapter a day. Today is 6 days in, and I have decided to take you on this journey with me. So tomorrow you will see my thoughts, study and deep contemplation about Psalm 1. I hope you decide to walk alongside me as I immerse myself in Psalms for the next 150 days. 

xoxoxo,
Sarah Mae