The little girl loved playing outside in the summer.  She was sad as she noticed summer beginning to fade into autumn.  So she gathered green leaves from her favorite tree, tore them into little pieces and put them into an empty jar to save summer.

After a few days, she saw that the little pieces of leaves had shriveled up and turned brown.  She hadn’t saved summer at all.

When autumn came, she and her family went on a weekend camping trip.  She loved the adventure of sleeping in the tent, snuggling in her sleeping bag, and smelling the woodsy air.  She wanted to save autumn and filled a jar with the sweet smelling smoke that swirled around their campsite.

In a few days, she noticed that the smoke in the jar had disappeared and so had the smell she loved.  She hadn’t saved autumn at all.

In January after the biggest snowfall of winter, the little girl and her family made a large snowman.  Thinking it was the best day of her life, she wanted to save the happiness so filled a jar with fluffy white snow.   By the next day, the snow had melted into water.  She hadn’t saved winter at all.

On the first warm evening of spring, the little girl and her family sat on their front porch and listened to the friendly call of the spring peepers.  How she loved the song of the tiny tree frogs!  The sound was so loud, she was sure she could save it in a jar.

But when she awoke the next morning, there were no peeper sounds.  Not outside, not inside, and not in the jar.  She hadn’t saved spring at all.

When the little girl grew older, she learned that the gifts of the seasons were not hers to save.  The leaves of summer, the smells of autumn, the snow of winter, and the sounds of spring are to be enjoyed in their time.