Seasons

    By Donna Churchill
 
 
     A long time ago a dear friend gave me a candle holder that said “Every season has its own special blessings.” That is so true.
 
    A few months ago, when we were technically still in the season of Autumn, I came home from running errands one day and stopped at the bottom of my driveway to pick up the mail. As I started to get out of the car, I saw a sight that caused me to sit right back down and reach for my phone. I had to get a picture of this!
 
     At the bottom of our driveway sits a Burning Bush and at that time of the year, it was bright red, but some of the leaves had already fallen to the ground. What caused me to be in awe of this sight was that we had our first snowfall of the season that day and the very white snow was clinging to the tops of the empty branches of the Burning Bush. The sun was also beginning its descent at that time, shining brilliantly on the bush and the sight in front of me was breathtaking! Of course no picture can do justice to God’s handiwork, but I tried.
 
     Later, when I was looking at the pictures, I saw something I hadn’t seen initially. I saw two seasons colliding – dead leaves on the ground, the bright red of the leaves still on the bush and the snow clinging to the bare branches. It appeared that as one season was trying to make a graceful exit, the next season came barging in! One season was trying to scare the other off. I saw a season that maybe wasn’t ready to leave and another season anxious to make its presence known.
 
     I began to see a spiritual application here - as seasons collide in our lives, God works in our hearts to prepare us to let go of one and embrace the other. But, often we are not ready to do that graciously. There are seasons in our lives that we want to hang on to, there are also seasons we desperately try to run from. And then, there are seasons that seem to barge in and we feel totally unprepared for them.
 
     That vacation at the beach...yup, want to stay there; that time of sickness…yup, God, could you just heal me now? That very unpleasant task that needs to be gotten through...yup, can’t wait until that’s over. That wilderness season we are walking through where we can’t seem to hear God’s voice…yup, it’s hard to endure that season with patience.
 
     And yet, in hindsight, I think we could almost say of all of those seasons, there were blessings in each one of them and looking back we can see God’s hand in all of them.
 
     As I write this, I’m reminded of car trips with two small girls in the back seat, who kept asking their Dad, “Are we there yet?”  Last year, I was called to jury duty and had to serve on a case that was expected to last four days and I just kept thinking, “I can’t wait until this week is over!” But in both of those memories, I see the hand of God and know these seasons were purposed and blessed.
 
                                                                                                    Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 reminds us:
 
                                                          “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.”
 
     It is so comforting to know that truth as I’ve experienced many of these times and seasons over the course of my life, as, I’m sure, have you. In His sovereignty, it is God who determines our seasons. It is God who determines what time it is!
 
     “My times are in your hand;”  Psalm 31:15a
 
     Psalm 1:1-3  gives still more insight.
 
     “ Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.”
 
     I heard a preacher say one time that the word season here refers to a specific point in time when a series of events occur ordained by God.  Our whole lives are like that, aren’t they? Our seasons and times are always sovereignly ordained by God. When we try to rush out of one season and run into another, we may be fighting against the very hand of God and the season He has determined.
 
     The seasons in nature, the seasons of life, the seasons of growth, all of these seasons hold purpose. In His perfect planning and purpose, He ordains one season and then prepares us for the transition into the next season He has planned. And no matter the season, there is blessing.
 
     As I walk out of one season and into another, my heart wants to be able to say with Paul in the letter to the Philippians, “…for I have learned in whatever situation [season] I am to be content.”
 
     Every season does come with its own special blessings. May we find contentment and see purpose and blessing in whatever season God has placed us in at the moment.