The Seasons of Life

No matter where you live in the world, every year, the Earth experiences four, different seasons. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

Spring is when the flowers start coming back into bloom, though it is still cold, the sun finds days to shine. Summer is when we see and feel the sun the most, it’s warmth bringing us feelings of comfort and joy. Autumn is the sign that Summer is almost over, the leaves start falling from the trees in their thousands. Winter brings with it the cold and the snow, and many days of staying inside.



When God made the world, he also made these seasons:

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so”.
Genesis 1: 14-15

One thing a lot of people know about me is that I do not love Winter. I don’t remember disliking it as a child, but as I’m getting older I am more and more fed up with it with every passing year. I don’t know, exactly, why though. Ok, so yes, I dislike the cold and I’m not a big fan of snow and I can’t stand it when the bad weather prevents me from doing things, but all of that still doesn’t explain why I find Winter quite so challenging.

However, one thing I have learnt lately is to appreciate that there is purpose in God’s seasons, just like there is purpose in everything God has created. Spring and Summer bring life, Autumn and Winter bring death. And whilst the majority of people I know prefer Spring and Summer to Autumn and Winter, it is important to acknowledge that the seasons change because they need to in order to fulfill God’s divine purpose.

As well as the literal seasons, it is important to remember that spiritual seasons also change. In Ecclesiastes, it says:

“There is a time for everything, and a season for everything 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.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

 Ecclesiastes shows us that there is a right time and a wrong time for us to receive or to experience certain things. Ecclesiastes states, pretty bluntly, that there will be seasons in our life that will be joyous and those that will be painful. We will all love and we will all lose. We will all search and we will all give up searching. We will all experience times to speak and other times to keep quiet. 

 That is the promise of these verses, that believers will experience both enjoyable and challenging times throughout their lives. Just because you are experiencing challenging times right now does not mean that it will last. And just because you are full of joy at this point in your life does not mean that challenges are not on the horizon. And why? Because God has a season for ‘everything under the heavens’.

 Challenging times bring with them sadness, frustration, anger, resentment, despair and loneliness. BUT they also bring with them opportunities to grow, love, increase your patience, think of others, dig deeper with God and, perhaps most importantly, to realise, once again, that you are not, and have never been, on your own.

 We are not supposed to live our lives in our own strength, because our own strength, when things are tough, really amounts to nothing. It is God’s strength that upholds us, sustains us, strengthens us and encourages us to press on. In seasons of waiting, loss, pain, disappointment, anger, confusion and despair it is time to look to the One who is higher than you, wiser than you and more powerful than you. Though it will be tough, God will get you to the next, glorious, season, if you show him you can depend on him during the difficult ones. 

 For those in their seasons of joy, enjoy it! Do not waste your time worrying about the challenging seasons ahead, because that is not what God wants or expects you to do. He wants you to see the purpose of your joy. He wants you to live, fuelled by your joy, so that everyone around you will be encouraged and give Him the glory.

 So, whatever season you are in right now, let God lead you through it. Cry with him, pray with him, mourn with him, laugh with him, smile with him, be thankful with him. When everything around us is changing from season to season, HE is the ONE and ONLY constant.

 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”
Hebrews 13:8 




















Comments

  1. Nathan18 March 2018 at 23:11

    This is amazing. Profound and also poetic. Encouraging and a pleasure to read.

    ReplyDelete

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