Season

I live in a place where there are four seasons of the year. I’m in my least favorite season of weather for sure. I love Spring, Fall, Summer – in that order. During the winter, most everything appears dead, although I realize it’s rebuilding and about to show off in the spring time. There are so many seasons in life. There is basketball season, baseball season, football season – the list could go on. A season is defined as any period of time when something special or different happens. When I looked up this word at www.dictionary.com, there were eight noun definitions, six verb definitions and five different idiom uses.  I have used this word season a lot lately because I reflect on my life and I can now see the seasons that I was in and how those seasons of life shaped who I am and where I am today.

I spent just over twenty years in student ministry. I could break that big season down into smaller seasons – at four different churches. My college life was a season. My first marriage was a season. When each of my children first arrived on the scene, it was a season. Watching my kids go through seasons is sometimes hard. Seasons can be super fun and a blessing as well. I’ve made no secret that I love the “Pop & Nana” season that I’m in. My wife and I love being grandparents. When I take a minute and reflect there were seasons that were very hard before they became good. King Solomon writes that there is a season for everything and I think he’s correct. Check this out….

¹ For everything there is a season,
    a time for every activity under heaven.

¹¹ Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. ¹² So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. ¹³ And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God. (Ecclesiastes 3:1,11-13 NLT)

When I’m going through a difficult season, it’s difficult to see the end. When I’m walking through a difficult season with a friend, it can be very hard as well. As I look at “seasons”, I realize that they have a beginning and an ending. I don’t always like it when a season ends, because some seasons, I want to last forever. Every season here on earth has a starting point and an ending point. I have favorite shows on television that make me sad when they go through their final season and come to an end. I have friends who passed from this life way to early – that was a tough season.

I often wonder what my “final season” will look like. If I could script my final season, I would probably be old and in good health. I would make sure to tell my family and friends just how much I love them and what they mean to me. I would remind them once again of the hope I have living in God’s Presence. I would remind them of His Grace and Mercy toward me. I want to navigate my final season (whatever it looks like) in a way that reveals my faith in God. I want my final season to honor God. I want my current season to honor God.

I was reminded this morning that when a particular season snags my attention, I can lose perspective on “the whole scope of God’s work”.  I’m simply thankful for the reminder to reflect on past seasons and be thankful/grateful to God all the time – no matter what the season.

Pressing On!

Dwayne