This brings us to our trek for today as we consider moving from fall to winter within the Cycles and Seasons of Life and this section of our trek is titled:

Be Prepared for Winter

As certain as night will always follow day every season of life will have a time of winter. There will never be an endless summer, nor a continual harvest in the fall. Winter can make its appearance during any season, as a brief reminder of its ultimate power. In mid-summer, while you are consciously tending your carefully growing crops, a winter-like storm in the form of hail and wind can momentarily descend upon you threatening to take away the fruits of your efforts. Winter can make its threatening appearance during the season of planting and sprouting, the spring, and if you do not quickly respond to cancel its potentially devastating effect, the season of opportunity will be taken from you by one of the storms of life, leaving you with yet another full year of waiting. We certainly experienced this in several years where the apple blossoms were hit with a late frost. Winter can also prematurely appear during the season of harvest, the fall, just as you are about to reap the rewards of expended and extended human effort, and leave you with crops, or results in your work, which are of little value.