Seasons Change


I have thought a lot about seasons lately. I heard a fantastic podcast by Chris Hodges recently on the subject, and it really got me thinking about how much of life is based around the concept of seasons. Sometimes we may feel like we're in a "winter" where opportunities and other situations in life seem barren, difficult, and cold. Still others feel like spring with prospects, offers, and life all in bloom everywhere you look. If we're in one season, there's two guarantees. First, all seasons will come to an end. Second, there is always something to be learned from the season. 

It can be easy to want to try and force things/people/situations to fit into certain seasons, but just like trying to plant crops in the middle of winter, it's just not going to produce the kind of results we are looking for. It may be the right thing, the right person, the right job, the right feeling, but the wrong season or timing. Seasons may be challenging, and other times they may be simple. The best thing that I've found is to simply look for the beauty and the lesson in the season, and be willing to wait it out. Spring always comes after the hardest of winters, and the beauty of fall comes at the end of a long summer. Wherever you may be in life's seasons, know this: there is a time and a place for everything. Be patient, persevering, and learn what you can. Soon the season will pass, and you will be able to look back and say, "remember when..?"

I am reminded of this passage in Ecclesiastes 3 which says, 

"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

In His timing, all things will be made new, life will be restored, hope will rise again. It says in scripture that "He has made everything beautiful in its time"; things of value and beauty often require an investment of time. We are accustomed to a "quick-fix" society, where things are available to us at the drop of a hat. Remember to be patient, and the right opportunities will open up in the proper timing. Trust that whatever situation you are in, you are there for a reason, and your obedience to His timing will bring forth blessing. Each season has beauty; we must be willing to find it. 

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