Seasons
Planet Earth orbits the Sun in such a way as to produce different seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall. Where I live, we usually experience all four of them fairly distinctly. And with every change of season, I am ready for the change. The season is just long enough to make me eager for something new. By the time Spring begins to warm, I’m ready to shed my heavy sweaters and appreciate the vibrant colors all around. By the time Summer heats up, I’m ready to enjoy the pool and take afternoon naps under a ceiling fan. By the time Autumn arrives, I’m ready for hot soup, the apple harvest, and the busyness that comes with planning for the Winter. When Winter falls, I am truly ready for shorter days, evening fires and reading long into the night.
From an agricultural perspective, there is a time for preparing the ground, a time for planting, a time for watering and tending, a time for harvesting, a time for pruning, and a time for letting the ground rest. And to this end, the change of seasons is necessary. A marvelous rhythm of creation, growth, life and death.
Creator God set this rhythm in motion. He made the seasons a context for our experience of Him. By this we become acquainted with change, with feasting and famine, with gladness and sorrow. In this rhythm, this dance of life, we learn to depend on His steady, unchanging faithfulness.
Sometimes I think a season lingers too long. I’m ready for the change before the change comes. In these times of waiting, I endeavor to wait with patience and trust that “this, too, shall pass.” The challenge in these times is not to wait with apathy but with diligence and faithful preparation for the change that is surely coming.
Lord, teach me to wait with patient diligence. Help me to stay focused on the One who keeps the Sun in place and the Earth spinning by the Word of His power. You are my Master and my God, and You are worthy of my devotion in every season, in every trial, in every blessed oasis. Teach my soul to sing the song of contentment as I receive and accept every season and every time from the kind intention of Your will toward me. Be glorified in this life I live by Your grace and Your mercy in the power of Your love. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Are you ready for a change in season? Do you want the one you’re in to linger? Regardless, be assured: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV) He is the Lord of the seasons, both in the Earth and in your life. Spend time this week asking Him to reveal to you what season you are in and what season you should be preparing for.
Until next week, bloom where you are planted.