Dragonfly Days

I’ve been noticing a dragonfly in my front yard as I water plants. To me, that’s a sign of summer ending. In Minnesota, where Tracy and Carlene, my brother and sister-in-law, live, dragonflies come out much earlier in the spring. Years ago, when my husband, son and I lived at Manos Meadows, I would look out at the pasture and see the lovely purple thistles in bloom, and dragonflies hovering around. This always something happened in August and it meant the end of summer and the beginning of another school year. Life is made up of endings and beginnings. Sometimes we are so busy with the activities of one season that we don’t realize it is slipping away until one morning we awake and the days are definitely shorter, the nights definitely longer, and autumn is on our doorstep. Children are into the full swing of school and I, at this stage of life, watch them and stand amazed at the way they are growing and learning. No longer do I trek off to the classroom. That season has ended. Now, I stand on the sidelines as an observer. It is almost as if I am in one season and the youngsters are in another, but that’s the way it goes. Whatever season you are in, I ask the Lord’s blessings with you and know that He loves you, no matter what comes. “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).