“This will not last forever,” I wrote those words on the unfinished walls above my daughter’s changing table. For some reason, it got very tiring to change her diapers. Nearly three years later, the words are still there though the changing table no longer is under them.

While my house is still unfinished so I occasionally see those words, that stage of changing diapers for her has moved on. She did grow up, and I got a break. Now I do it for her baby brother.

I have been reminding myself of the seasons of life again. Everything comes and goes. Here in Costa Rica where I live, we just have rainy season and dry season. Dry seasons get plenty long sometimes. When the dust starts to blow in with every wind storm, when I wake up to dust on my stove and tabletop . . . well, everywhere I guess—it gets old pretty quick after a few days.

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But always after about four or five months of no rain, it starts raining again. The dust settles. The grass grows again. It feels good that not everything is gritty every day. Funny how by the end of the rainy season, I can also get tired of the daily rain. We enjoy the first days of the dry season very much as everything is still nice and the dust hasn’t started yet.

I also lived some of my youth in Canada, so I also know what it is like to feel that winter will never end. But it always has, for thousands of years. Spring does come fully one day. No season lasts forever. Take heart in that.

I have gone through seasons of loneliness in my motherhood journey. It felt so long. But my roots grew deep and strong. The winds of change couldn’t move me when they came. It also taught me to appreciate the friendships I have and the times someone did reach out to me even though it felt like a rare treat.

Having had four children already, I see the seasons in the baby years pretty clearly by now. The first year after baby can be really hard. It feels like short nights, dirty diapers, and crying babies will never end. But then one day you realize your baby is grown up. Sure they need us still. But it becomes possible to have some days where you can do a bit more than survive.

Someday even these years will pass, and then I will truly miss having little ones underfoot. On the hard days now, I remind myself that as endless as this seems, it will not last forever.

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There have been seasons of tears and depression. There have been times I have had good energy and could truly enjoy life. In each stage, it helps us to remember that life is all about seasons. If you face what seems to be an endless winter, remember that one day spring will come. Look for little signs with hope.

I don’t know what season of life you are going through. It may feel like it will never end. Some of the effects of hard seasons may always hang around. But one day you will see more light. Hang in there. You will see life spring up again.

The same God who created the seasons will walk with us through each one even though sometimes we may not see or feel Him. He is working on preparing us for the next season. This will not last forever.