The Changing Seasons

I find myself struggling with this topic as I am the first to admit that I am a “season chaser.” Yes, you heard that correctly, a season chaser. Does that sound familiar to you?  Always trying to get to the next season of my life, always thinking about how much better life will be in this season or this season. What I didn’t realize is just how wrong I am. I find myself tired, mentally, physically, and ultimately feeling lost and alone. That isn’t what God intended at all for me or you. 

God didn’t put us in this world to just chase Him blindly thinking if we run a little harder we will catch Him, or always trying to arrive at that next season before we should be. We ought to be focused only in the season that we are in now. Right now, at this moment. Have we ever really stopped and looked around to see just how beautiful our lives are when we have the Lord in our hearts? I will be the first to admit that there has been so many days that I don’t. Following the Lord isn’t going to be all rainbows and butterflies but we do know that in the end He wins. However, that doesn’t stop the enemy trying his hardest to get us to fail and fall hard. God isn’t going to stop the storm (in fact He tells us that there will be storms in John 16:33), but He does promise he will walk through it with us. So if that is the season you are in right now, embrace it, and Him because the Lord is the only person that is going to get you through it.

I like to think in terms of agriculture as that is how I have been raised, and overall nature. Look at the trees, (of course in Western Kansas it is “look at THE tree, the only one, haha) and notice how it sways in the wind. We are like trees in more ways than one. We can bend, but do not break. The ways of the enemy will be like the wind, always tempting us, pushing and shoving but we cannot break if we are steadfast in the Lord but we will bend. Remember in my last blog about the mustard seed, it only takes a little seed of faith, just like the tree it grew from a tiny seed. That is the faith we need to be carrying from season to season; also like trees they go through seasons, again just like us. They gain their leaves in the Spring, flower,and produce fruit throughout the summer then in the fall they change again. Their leaves turn into beautiful rich colors, and start to dry in the cool breeze, another change; where last when the bitter winds, and snow starts to fall so do the leaves. These trees go through changes, seasons, as do we. Looking in the Bible to the book of Mark, verse 11, it states the following: “Seeing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, he went to find out if there was anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.” Just like when we plant our crops, there is a season for the planting, a season for growing, and a season for harvesting that crop.

See in each season God has so many blessings, joys, and storms, that we have to slow down so we don’t miss them or fully seek why God has us there. I think of it as a horse with blinders on, only looking ahead which is good but if you are just looking ahead you aren’t seeing what is around you right now in this moment.

In the Bible, the book of Ecclesiastes discusses in chapter 3 called the “Mystery of Time”. “There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven: a time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance; a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing; a time to search and a time to count as lost; a time to keep and a time to throw away; a time to tear and a time to sew; a time to be silent and a time to speak; a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.” It goes on into verse 11, “He has made everything appropriate in its time.” What a huge statement in just a small sentence. God has made everything belong in its own time, its own season. If we rush through these seasons then we are running right past His blessings. So stop running, stop chasing after these seasons for they will come when they are ready. That is my goal right now, is to stop chasing, and start looking around at where God has me in this season and to embrace it.

I pray that you stay strong, in whatever season you might be in. Know that the Lord is right there, walking with you! It is ok to not feel like this is your best season, but I also encourage you to seek the blessings that are in that season as well. 

-Mandy, Mandy June Photography