Life's Seasons: 3-26-06      Read Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under Heaven."
Ecclesiastes 3:1

The Blackaby brothers in their book, Experiencing God Day-By-Day, wrote of the beauty in the way God designed the four seasons in that, though each one is distinct, they all work together to bring life and growth. Spring is a period of freshness and new life. Summer sees growth and productivity. Autumn is a time for harvesting  the rewards of past labors. Winter is the season of dormancy and closure. Each season has its own unique beauty and makes a significant contribution to life.

Just as God planned seasons in nature, He planned seasons in life as well. Life has its springtime, when we begin new things and look excitedly toward the future. Summer comes and we work diligently in the heat of the day at all that God has assigned to us. With the autumn comes the fruition of things begun at an earlier time in our lives. Winter brings an end to a particular period in our lives. Winter brings hardship, but we remain hopeful, for another spring just around the corner!

In God’s perfect design for our lives, He has planned for times of fruitfulness and activity. He will also build in times of quite and rest. There will be times when He asks us to remain faithful doing the same work day after day. But there will also be periods of excitement and new beginnings. By God’s grace, we will enjoy seasons of harvesting the fruit of our faithfulness. By God’s grace, we will also overcome the cold winters of heartache and grief, for without winter there would be no spring. Just as it is with the seasons of nature, these seasons in our lives work together to bring about God’s perfect will for each of us.

How about you? Do you have a favorite season? Gaynelle often expresses her favorite as spring. I like all of them, and I  always look forward to the next one and what it brings. Joni Eareckson Tada, in her book, Diamonds in the Dust, writes about how good of God to make us such “seasonal” people. We enjoy change, and have been imprinted with the image of the Creator, we love variety. God has set eternity in our hearts and we simply must move forward like the changing seasons. So hang in there. There’s a time for everything, and God promises that  your days will be beautiful...in His time.

Prayer: Lord of winter and spring, I praise You for making everything beautiful in its time. Give me patience to wait for change in my life. Amen. 

Luther McCollum

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