Seasonsfeatured

According to the calendar we have moved from summer to fall, but in Houston, TX where I sit, it is currently 88 degrees which doesn’t feel very “fallish.”  I am ready for a change of seasons! God’s Word speaks to the seasons of life in the familiar words of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born 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 scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,  a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, 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.”

My non-theologian summary is this: God allows us to have seasons of gain and seasons of loss because he has profound lessons to teach us in the cycles of life.

This painting depicts a tree that is transitioning from one season to another – from fall to winter.  The limbs are almost bare.  In the life cycle of a tree, it is a season of loss.  God designed the life cycle of many plants to have a season of loss before experiencing a season of gain – a season to bear fruit.

During the season of loss, the tree is still active.  Its roots are still gathering nutrition and water from the soil enabling the life-giving sap to flow through the tree. Despite the lack of leaves, the roots continue to deepen, anchor the tree to the ground and support it.

When I am in a season of loss, I generally want it to be over as soon as possible.  I tend to forget that if I seek him, God will continue to nourish and sustain me until the season changes.  In loss, my spiritual roots have the opportunity to grow deeper and stronger.  In Colossian 2:6-7 the apostle Paul tell us, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught…”

This COVID-19 season has been a season of loss – loss of life, health, jobs, freedom.  All of us have experienced some kind of loss.  I, frankly, am ready for this season to be in my rear-view mirror.  Even though I can’t yet see the end of this season, these verses in Ecclesiastes assure me that God has a purpose for this season.  I may not totally understand what it is, but I know with certainty that God is providing an opportunity for me to strengthen my spiritual roots. 

It’s a choice. I can choose to let God make this season productive or I can choose to do my own thing.  The problem is that on my own, I don’t have the spiritual nourishment I need.  In Matthew 7:17-18 Jesus says, “… every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” Without nourishment withering ensues and my tree loses its ability to bear good fruit.  The hope that comes from God’s nourishment turns to despair.  The fruit of despair does not taste good.

This passage from Ecclesiastes gives me hope that another season will come.  When winter turns to spring, the tree’s unseen activity during winter begins to bear fruit.  Buds develop on the branches and soon the beauty of flowers and fresh leaves appears and eventually fruit begins to develop.

In God’s providential timing, the season of COVID will be over.  But while we are still in it, let’s not neglect this God-given opportunity to be nourished by his Word and to let those spiritual roots grow strong and deep.  As you stand strong and firm in your faith, there may be someone who needs to lean on you for support.  Until the season changes, I pray that each of us are ready to serve God in this way.