To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven (Ecclesiates 3:1)
We are all allotted a finite amount of time to travel this journey called Life. For simplicity, my paradigm of life is in four seasons: Spring - the season from birth to adulthood; Summer - the season to cultivate and work the field; Autumn - the season to harvest and enjoy the fruits of your labor; and Winter - the season to rest and stay warm because the end of the journey is near.
Using this paradigm, it's interesting that in the US, there is no Autumn. Everyone works a long Summer until the age of 65 (67 for those who were born 1960 and later) and then goes straight into Winter.
I've officially entered the Autumn season of my life on February 23rd, 2018.
Some may view this as an early retirement but again, to me Winter is still a whole season away. For those who know me, Autumn is my favorite time of the year! It is when the earth celebrates the maturity of a new crop and dawns it's best colors. It is a time of harvest. We are fortunate to live during a time of abundance but the abundance of crop does not guarantee a successful harvest.
For example, in Minnesota, every Autumn I enjoy being in the fields harvesting upland birds (grouse and pheasants). How successful I am at harvesting birds depend on how well I prepare for every field trip. The basics of this kind of harvesting includes knowing and handling the tools needed for the task (shotgun, chokes, shell ballistics and dogs). By the time I set foot on the field, I would have hunted it many times in my mind using tools such as Google map and Weather.com.
In the Autumn of my life, I've decided to pursue value and harvest meaning. I believe that by doing so, my Winter will be short and the memories I create will outlive me.
The purpose of this blog is to document and share the experiences of my new season.
