Seasons

In Alabama this week, the season is definitely WINTER!!  It’s been cold. I have friends who love it and eagerly look for the snow in every weather forecast.  Other friends love winter because they hunt, etc. Personally, winter is my least favorite season. It’s followed by spring, which I don’t particularly enjoy because we always have the threat of strong storms and tornadoes in Alabama during that season.  I love summer and fall.  Summer is great because there are so many hours of daylight to get things done around the house and for recreation.  It’s also time when special trips are taken because school is out.  Fall is special because the weather is near perfect in Alabama and football season kicks off!  Personally, I just hunker down during winter and spring looking forward to the seasons of better weather and enjoyment. The good thing about seasons is that they are not permanent. Seasons change.

Seasons aren’t just related to weather either. There are seasons of life. For instance, young adulthood is a season of life where people typically begin their careers, get married, have children, etc.  Middle age is another season of life. The kids are older and the nest eventually empties. You are long established in your career, but new challenges arise during this season. Senior adulthood and the retirement years are another season with new challenges & opportunities. On top of these seasons, every marriage goes through seasons – some good, some not so good. Talk to any parent and they will tell you that there are seasons in raising children – seasons of joy, seasons of uncertainty, seasons of rebellion, seasons of struggle, seasons of growth. There are seasons in our careers. Our churches go through seasons – some of them are sunny and blessed and others are stormy and rough.  This week in my personal Bible reading, I revisited a familiar passage of scripture that spoke to me in a fresh way about seasons of life…

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1–8, ESV)

This famous passage reminds all of us that seasons of life happen to everyone and they normal.  It reminds us that seasons of life, like seasons of the weather, are not permanent. Seasons change. We have to endure unpleasant seasons while waiting on more pleasant days.

Perhaps you are reading this blog post, and you are going through a difficult season in life. It’s a harsh winter in your life. Don’t give up. Seasons are not permanent, and the sun will shine again in your life even though it doesn’t feel that way now. You just have to keep going, keep trusting, keep being faithful until the season changes.  This is why just a few verses down Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that the Lord makes everything beautiful in His time.  Praise the Lord for a God we can trust through the seasons of life we all go through!