“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NLT)
I do this every year. I can’t believe the leaves are starting to change. Where did summer go?
Seems I’m always finding fault with the weather. I was so frustrated with all the cold weather we had this past winter. Relentless, it encroached into our normal start of spring. I couldn’t stop complaining. It was so nice when spring finally decided to stay.
However, it got hot quickly. And I complained about how hot it was. Then all the rain—day after day. Torrential, white wall of water downpours. So I complained about that. This year our area had a ton more rain than in recent memory, aside from our typical hurricane season. Now the leaves are changing and that means the cold is coming.
I love that we get to experience all four seasons in this area. It seems right when you’ve had it with one season, here comes the next. My least favorite has to be winter because I do not like being cold. I define winter as January and February only. It does not have permission to venture outside those dates. I start complaining when it comes earlier or stays longer than invited.
Fall is my favorite. It’s a crisp, cool refreshment to the hot, steamy sauna-like days. And no, the rain does not cool things off. It makes everything twice as muggy. You’ll find me wearing a sweatshirt, jeans, and my flip flops. I’ll wear my flip flops for as long as I possibly can. Around here that will normally last into October and sometimes November.
As I get older I’ve created this habit of looking at my everyday life and seeing if it mirrors things of heaven. I don’t think it’s by accident that our seasons speak of what we experience in the different phases of our lives.
In the fall things begin to wind down. My house sits on three acres and 97 percent is outlined by a massive sixty-foot hedge of trees. We only have a few trees on our actual piece of land, but our property is defined by a lush, green border. It is spectacular to watch the brilliant display of color as the leaves change. When the fall winds snatch them from the trees and send them cascading to the ground, I call it God’s confetti. The final encore feels celebratory even though the lush green gives way to the last and yet strongest display of life.
Could fall be similar to our final contributions in life be it in our latter years or the final arousal of getting better only to breathe our last? It’s much more than our finality. I believe we have a fall season when projects and responsibilities come to an end. We experience major life transitions such as a marriage ending or children graduating. Life offers up an abundance of large and small transitions where we stand on the threshold of closing the door on something in our life.
Everything goes dormant in winter. It’s frigid and urges us to seek warmth. My sons use to say the trees were “naky” (naked). I spend most of my winter wishing those trees would put their green leaves back on. The season can be bitterly cold, biting through garments meant to keep us warm. Unprotected skin quickly pays the price if not attended to. Even if you are an outdoor enthusiast and you enjoy a lot of winter sports, you know the importance of taking precautions to keep yourself dry, and warm. If you’ve ever had the chance to stand in a white covering of snow, it has an insulated quiet that can be both felt and heard.
Winter comes to the rescue in the times when we’ve had to close the door on a portion of our lives—the times when something has come to an end. It gives us down time to rest and recollect our thoughts, determine our direction. Time to search our souls, define the old and the new, determine what our responsibilities were in certain situations, what we need to change to move forward, and discover what God has in store for us next. It’s a time when you get to catch your breath and figure out where the new beginning is.
Spring is full of blooms and the beauty of new life all around. The earth is watered more so than normal as seed is breaking the ground. I still remember this childhood joke: April showers bring May flowers, but what did the May flower bring? Yes, the pilgrims! Vegetable and flower gardens begin to take shape. The birds are back in abundance, and they seem as encouraged as we are singing from the tree limbs that have started to fill with green buds. Admittedly, the insects and snakes are back, too.
A spring season for us would be when new ideas or opportunities are at hand. Maybe you’re emerging from a winter where you sorted through some difficult decisions and you have the answers you needed to start again. You’ve had a revelation of a new direction or new start, a new opportunity, and you put action to ideas.
Summer is full of greenery, suntan lotion, and flip flops. The sun provides more daylight, and it’s possible to stay out much later. The evenings are even more enjoyable because—once the sun sets—the heat is bearable. Family and friends spend time at cookouts and pool parties. School is out, so families are able keep schedules not dictated by the school calendar.
For us, summer is the time when it all comes together. We’re in the sweet spot of life, business, or relationships. We’ve worked hard, and the reward is upon us. It’s a time of ease, satisfaction of being in the flow with no resistance. We got that contract, had the baby, got the son or daughter to graduation. Maybe our marriage has been restored, a friend or family member has received a miraculous healing. The possibilities are endless, because the definition is unique to who you are.
Currently, in the physical world, summer is ending and fall looms on the horizon, but I’m in a winter phase of life. I’m reflecting on being a widow and still question how it’s possible that I am at this place. I had so many other plans—none of which included this marital status. It doesn’t matter that this was not my choice; reality forces me to the threshold. I’m not able to close the door. I’m not sure when I will be. Do I really have to close it? All the way?
Scan any room. Every face you see has or will experience all four seasons of emotional life. They question the fall, wrestle with the winter, create new things in the spring, and celebrate in the summer.
We could complain our way through it and never appreciate where we are or where we’re headed. We’d miss the benefits of a personal relationship with Christ. With Him, we can do more than simply go through life, we can grow through life.
What emotional season of life are you in today? Are you celebrating? Bringing something to life with your own two hands? Closing the door to someone or something? Maybe wrestling with the tough questions that need adequate answers?
In my personal winter, it’s not lost on me that winter is unusual. If we look past the physical surroundings of the dead trees, muddy snow, and temperatures so cold they can threaten life, we’re challenged to redefine our reality. Underneath, new seed is preparing to break the soil. Spring will come and a new phase will begin. I only need to recline in the lap of the One who orchestrates the wind, tells the ocean where to stop, and sees every sparrow that falls to the ground. He’s the same One who has named every star, continues to create galaxies, and Whose order and definitions have never changed. He’s the One whose shadow you will never see because He’s facing you and will never turn away.
Now LIVE LOVED and THRIVE!
These questions are in no way a substitute for healthcare professionals or any level of professional counseling. I’m an advocate for taking care of oneself mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. These questions reflect my heart, NOT my profession.
This questionnaire is an opportunity to journal your thoughts and feelings. It can serve as a launching pad on which to evaluate your heart condition as you understand it. My hope is that you will take what you discover and hold it up to the Light to evaluate it against who God says you are.
- What emotional season of life are you in? Did you see it coming? Why/why not?
- What are your thoughts on literal seasons mimicking our personal seasons in life?
- If experiencing a winter, are you moving through the season? If not, what’s stopping you?
- What are some of the tough questions you keep asking God?
- What Bible verse can you use to worship/give thanks to God? Is there one that will help you remember that God is with you and will never leave you?
Use God’s word to take control over traumas in your life. Whenever you feel terrorized by your thoughts, take them captive by replacing them with the truth of God’s promises found in His word.
Print, then cut and carry this Scripture with you and/or post it in places where you will see it often. Ground yourself in God’s truths not Satan’s attacks. Encourage your heart and mind every time you are reminded of His great love for YOU!
Here is what God’s word says to encourage you and to give you an example of His unfailing, relentless, unending love for you:
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”—Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NLT)
When you read God’s word say to yourself: God has appointed seasons in nature as an example of seasons in my personal life. Because He created seasons He knows everything about them. He will be with me through every change I face.
Now LIVE LOVED and THRIVE!
