The Value of Each Season
Growing up in New England, I learned to enjoy the changing of the seasons at a young age. Just as you were becoming accustomed to a daily routine, the season would change offering different clothes, scenery, and activities. Swimming and gardening switched to color tours and raking leaves. Before long, raking leaves switched to shoveling snow and ice skating. Each season is important in nature as different things grow and flourish in different seasons. It is the same for the seasons in our lives. There are different seasons of growth, waiting, and change. We can appreciate and flow with the opportunities each season brings to us.
However, moving forward through the seasons in our lives takes strength and courage. We can settle back along the way and go dormant, or we can decide to keep growing and moving forward. The choice is ours. There are risks to moving forward and stepping out in new areas but there are also rewards and surprises along the way.
God gives us encouragement through His Word, friends, family, and steps of action. One step leads to another if we decide to keep stepping out or we can take the path of least resistance and settle down and camp right where we are. We all are tempted at times to take the path of least resistance and set back for a while. The prophet Elijah had some definite seasons – highs and low in his life journey.
“The angel of the Lord … said, ‘Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.’ So, he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights.” 1 Kings 19:7-8
Elijah had just had an amazing victory over 450 false prophets and seen God use him to perform an amazing victory. But then, one threat against him caused him to run off in despair and sit in depression. Sometimes our emotions and attitudes change faster than the seasons and we get in a slump like Elijah did. Thankfully, God understands, and He sends encouragement and strengthens us so we can keep going and step into the next season God has prepared for us.
All seasons are not the same and hold different opportunities that vary individually. What season do you feel you are in now?
Spring – planting? Summer – maturing? Autumn – fullness? Winter – resting and planning?
Can you identify your struggles in various seasons and what growth can you see has resulted from them?
No matter what season we are in, we can choose to respond to God’s grace in our life and trust Holy Spirit to direct our way. Each season has it’s own beauty.
