SEASONS
KEY SCRIPTURE: “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.” ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1 (ESV)
My schedule has been out of control the past few months. Very few of the things I’ve planned to do have gotten done as I’ve planned, or WHEN I’ve planned. My tendency has been to beat myself up over this, but as I picked up the whip again for another round of self-flagellation, God gently spoke Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 into my heart…
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.
Of course, I never quite get His hints immediately, so I asked Him to explain in my typical eloquent fashion.
I said, “Huh??”
He said, “What have you been doing with your time lately? Did anything big happen this summer?”
Well…. let me see…. my dad got really sick in May and we had to make an emergency trip to go see him. Then I got engaged, then we went down to see my family in California, then we got married, then we did Vacation Bible School, (which I’d never done before,) then we had our wedding celebration, then my boss went on vacation for a month so things were a bit more hectic at work, then my uncle and his fiancé from China came to visit and just left and……. yeah… I guess I’ve been a little busy this summer. *sigh*
Maybe you’re a little like me. The only “season” I ever have, is “NOW!” I want what I want NOW. I don’t want to WAIT for… well, pretty much ANYTHING. *laughing* I want what I want NOW. I know that’s truly the only time any of us have… there’s a million quotes letting us know, “There’s no time like the present!” and “This moment’s a gift, that’s why we call it, ‘the present’!” and “Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today!” and blah blah blah. And while I truly believe all these are true, I don’t think the spirit in which “I want things NOW” are what these quotes are talking about.
God reminded me recently that He knows the thoughts and plans He has for me, (Jeremiah 29:11) and they are GOOD plans… and HIS timing is different than MY timing, His time is different than my time, His ways are not my ways, and His thoughts are not my thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9) I was still wrestling with Him on this a bit, and since I kind of need REALLY clear examples with small words, He brought this example of “seasons” to my mind…
The last 10 years have been really difficult for me. There were good times, to be sure, but there were seemingly endless nights when I would cry out to God to change my situation. For a long time He just told me to wait. To be “present in the present” and learn from what I was going through.
It was hard.
It was painful.
It was grueling.
And exhausting.
It drained the very marrow from my soul and I felt like I was just an empty shell of a woman simply sucking in air every day. And even that, just barely.
It seemed like an endless, blistering hot summer of searing pain and scorching torment.
But, it was just a season. A long, LONG, season. But, it WAS just a season.
At last, a gentle season of healing began. A cooling autumn settled over my spirit and soothed my weary, war-ravaged heart. Wounds and memories, like crisp brown leaves that had died on the limb long ago but were still clinging desperately, were blown away by refreshing, brisk blustery breezes, and showers of love and support from family and friends flooded deep into the core of my desiccated soul. A quiet winter of rest and restoration, deeply soaking in His abundant aquifers of Living Water prepared the soil of my heart for a springtime that exploded with new life and new love and new joy and new hope and new peace… the likes of which I’ve never known.
Left to my own, I would not have chosen any of it.
I would not wish any of the pain on my worst enemy, to be sure, but I would not change a single moment of it. Because God used it ALL for good. Even what was intended to hurt me. (Genesis 50:20)
And looking back, at who I was before this season… it was necessary. My personality was hard and calloused and cracked and chipped, and only by grinding through that season were the rough edges of my heart sanded smooth, and softened.
Now, I’m in a new season of my life. There are still some areas where I want results NOW, *sigh* BUT because of the results of the last season He brought me through, I can now rest more confidently in His timing. I have more faith that His plans for me are better than my own. Because He has shown me clearly that they ALWAYS are.
He is “our Father in heaven,” (Matthew 6:9) and so He sees things from His vantage point that we cannot. He sees the whole picture of our lives, not just the myopic view we have. And because He’s God, and because of the miracle of the cross and resurrection of Jesus, His Spirit now lives IN us… walking WITH us through each and every moment, of each and every day, of each and every season of our lives. Because of His great love for us… (Ephesians 2:4-10) Amen!
SCRIPTURES
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 – 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. (NIV)
Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (NIV)
Isaiah 55:9 – As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Genesis 50:20 – You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good… (NIV)
Matthew 6:9 – This, then, is how you should pray, “Our Father in heaven…” (NIV)
Ephesians 2:4-10 – But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (NIV)