Seasons of change

“There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring. Each of these is a particular season bringing change from the previous season. For example, the snow of winter is crucial to the growth and blooming of spring. Fall is a renewal, a protection process in order to prepare for the harshness of winter. Each season is unique, and necessary for the other seasons to flourish as they do.

We go through seasons in our lives too. Yet, rather than seeing it as something worldly, the above verse from Ecclesiastes brought something to mind. God takes us through seasons of His own too. I’m just starting college and the entire thing has brought so much change in my life. I’m extremely excited yet almost resent it at the same time. It’s weird, a paradox of sorts. However, I’m starting to embrace the idea that this is God’s season, not my own.

It seems like whatever season we are in we are always waiting and anticipating the next one to come, rather than embracing the current one and what it brings us. In the harshness of winter (at least in Colorado where I come from), people can’t wait for spring and when it will finally start to be warm. And then when we have May blizzards, people can’t wait for summer when it won’t snow any more. In the heart of summer, people want the crispness of fall. Finally, towards the end of fall, people get antsy for snow and hot chocolate. The cycle constantly continues. We’re extremely impatient people. I’m going to use winter as an example.

Okay-winter. In fall, you look forward to winter. Yet, when you’re in the heart of winter, you wonder why winter is made out to look so good when you’re freezing in the middle of a freak snow storm. “Why does it have to snow now?? Why can’t it be spring and warm?” We fail to understand how vital the snow is to enable spring to flourish as it does. We fail to realize that the snow is a blessing in itself; though we may not want it at the present moment, it is what makes us enjoy spring so much.

So, for our seasons. We go through seasons too, God’s seasons. In each season, He has something so important to teach us. He wants to pour out the nutrients only He can give so we can flourish in the upcoming season. We can’t be so anxious to get to the next season that we miss what He wishes to give us in the present. Because, if we were able to go to the next season and skip the one we want, even still the season wouldn’t be the same. It’s like a layering process. Each season puts on a new layer of experiences, knowledge, etc., and if we skip one, we miss a layer which leaves us more bare for the upcoming season. Therefore, the season we think will be “so much better than anything,” actually won’t be, because we miss that layer. Each season is crucial, and we must not resent it. Embrace it, because God’s plan is so much bigger than ours and is so much better than anything we can do ourselves. So put your trust in Him, knowing that He knows you better than yourself. Embrace the season, the one you are currently in.