Day Three - To
everything there is a season
I love seasonal
living. I think I could live without them, but for the brief autumn that we
lived in Haiti, I eagerly scanned my Facebook newsfeed for any pictures of
people picking apples, or sitting around plump orange pumpkins, or drinking
their pumpkin spice lattes to their hearts content. Don’t get me wrong, living
on an Island with the beach nearby had its benefits, but my internal clock is firmly
set to mark the seasons.
In fact, I
believe that all of our clocks are set to mark seasons.
Let’s read
Ecclesiastes 3:1…
For everything there is a season, and a time for every
matter under heaven:
Our internal
clock isn’t just about falling leaves or spring’s crocuses. This clock is set
by a Creator who knit us in the womb and wove our DNA into place. He set our
hearts on eternity in Him (Ecc. 3:11) and created us for the seasons of life.
Our present
season may look like a new job, or a move, or the same old same old. Our
present season may welcome a new baby or an empty nest. It may herald in
marital anniversary bliss or marriage darkness. It may have us caring for
children, or caring for parents, or both. It may find us surrounded by people
and affection, or it may find us feeling very much alone.
Matthew Henry
says it so well:
“The day will
give place to the night and the night again to the day. Is it summer? It will
be winter. Is it winter? Stay awhile, and it will be summer. Every purpose has
a time. The clearest sky will be clouded…joy succeeds sorrow; and the most
clouded sky will clear up.”
It isn’t
analyzing the season that we are in presently that we are talking about,
although that is valuable. It is knowing that God does in fact have a time for
us, in the big things –
A
season for independence
A
season to get married
A season of fun and
exhaustion with little ones
A season for career “success”
A season for a new job
A season of good health
A season of health struggles
A season of watching children take
wing
A season of retirement
A season of death
And in the little
things –
A season for vacation
A season of busyness
A season of tightening the belt of
finances
A season of plenty
A season of coffee, coffee, and more
coffee
A season of grumbling
A
season of romance
Recognizing that
God weaves us in and out of seasons in our lives, we can stand through the dark
stuff knowing that this too shall pass. And when we are waiting desperately for
something, we can be assured that our season for that may just be around the
corner.
It gives us a
little bit of patience and a whole lot of assurance that our God holds our days
in His hands. The same God who sends the sun over the horizon and causes it to
set at dusk, the God who makes the snow fall and the flowers spring up a few
months later, holds our lives and our plans close to His heart.
Psalm 31:15-16, 19
But I trust in you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
My times
are in your hand;
rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my
persecutors!
Make your
face shine on your servant;
save me in your steadfast love!
Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
in the sight of the children of mankind!
What season are you in? Is it a joyous time, or a season of
struggle? Is it a season of normal and average (which is a blessing sometimes!)
or surprise and excitement?
To everything there is a season. Whatever the season, embrace
it as a time to know a little more of the One who creates and sustains and
brings us to the next season. May your seasons ever be a further revealing of
His work in your life.
Discussion questions:
What is your favorite season (winter, spring, summer, or
fall)?
What big or little seasons of life can you add to the above
lists?
What does your current life-season look like?
In what ways have you seen God work in your seasons?
Heart verse:
I perceived that what God does endures forever
Ecclesiastes 3:14a
Labels: Ecclesiastes, joy, season, sorrow
