Winter’s harshness falls like death,
Stings the eyes and frosts the breath,
Browns the leaves and bares the trees,
Puts to sleep both bears and bees.
But when winter’s work is done,
New life springs beneath the sun.

Does it seem odd to read a poem about winter while drenched in summer’s heat? Granted, some of you live south of equator, where you are in winter right now. But whether you find my verse to be in season or out of season, it is actually motivated by much more than a wistful recollection of cooler days, for with this introduction I am announcing a season of change for The Abundant Heart Blog.

My blog has been in existence for about 432 days, and in that time I have shared 441 posts—more than one post per day. Not only that, but I have a second blog on which I’ve done the same thing. But I have finally come to realize that it’s time to cut back. The world will not fall apart if I only blog three days a week. Even that sounds like a lot, compared to some, but it’s what I feel comfortable doing at this point.

For the next month, The Abundant Heart Blog will continue to feature posts nearly every day, simply because they have already been scheduled. But as the summer draws to a close, the posts will taper down to Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday.

Sunday will be a curated post (reblog), not something original with me.

Tuesday will continue to be my Bible study day. This coming week will be my last Women-of-the-Bible study. I have more women planned, but I wish to save those studies for the print edition. After next week’s Women-of-the-Bible study (the 50th), I’ll resume our study of the Psalms. I am keeping the Bible study, not because it’s easy to prepare (for it isn’t), but because that is what issues from the abundance of my heart.

Friday will be reserved for the Five-Minute Friday posts. As the title suggests, those don’t usually take very long. (But don’t let anybody fool you into believing they only take five minutes!) I spend five minutes writing, but sometimes I spend an hour selecting a photo!

Why am I scaling back? Because it’s time to put some balance into my life. The blog, quite honestly, has consumed much of my time up to this point, and there are other things that need to be done.

Many thanks to every single one of my followers and readers. I do appreciate you taking the time to read and respond to the articles and poems that you find here. Lord willing I’m not going away, just putting my blog on a diet of sorts. 🙂 My purpose for being here has not changed, only the way in which I will use this space going forward.

God bless you!

Photo taken in Chesapeake, Virginia, 2010

“Season of Change” copyright © 2018 Angela Umphers Rueger – All Rights Reserved