For Everything a Season
It’s springtime in Melbourne. My weather app forecasts scattered showers for the next 6 days. I stare dismally at the boys’ shoes which are torn up with holes – they go through shoes faster than clothes or haircuts. I’ll have to pack extra socks for when their feet get wet.
Rain brings mixed emotions.
For some, rain means cold, dreary commutes with dripping umbrellas. For some, it means slippery sports conditions. For others, it means an invitation for hibernation.
But for farmers? Rain is an answer to prayer. It’s desperately needed for crops, livestocks, and livelihoods. Aussie farmers are anxiously watching the skies waiting for rain to come now.
For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
2 A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
3 A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
4 A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
6 A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
7 A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
8 A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NLT)
Timing is everything. The rain has to come in the spring to germinate and resurrect the seed that has been dormant all winter. The tender shoots need nourishment and moisture. It’s time for growth.
I measure the boys’ heights on their wall chart and see that they’ve each grown 1 cm this month. Even humans respond to the seasons. Despite our departure from agricultural societies and our relentlessly repetitive days and months, we still blossom in springtime with a longing for outdoors, an anticipation for summer trips to the beach and barbecues in the park.
But do we anticipate the seasons in our life? Do we recognise that we are in a particular season – and that it, too, will pass? Whether it’s the season of loneliness … or the season of busy-ness …or the season of trials? Do we value the season we’re in now for what it contributes or are we wishing we could skip over it? Why does the seed need the winter? Why do we have to wait for fulfilled promises, why do we have to endure difficult times?
Older and wiser parents always tell me, “The children grow up so fast … it’s only for a time. Cherish them while you can.”
But it’s honestly hard to value each day when the days come and go with their own pressure points that divide time into “hectic morning time,” “get-as-much-work-done-as-possible-before-pick-up-time,” “pick-up time,” “dinner time,” “Home-reading time,” “clean-up time,” “Bath-time,” “bed time,” and then “me time.” Somewhere in there is “us time” and “God time,” often squashed or split or scattered between-times.
So as I sit in bed with my laptop reflecting on seasons I wonder, how can I embrace this season? I think, I can stop expecting harvest when it’s springtime. Rather than getting discouraged when the children don’t behave, I can focus on the fact that this is their season for learning obedience. Rather than disliking my body for not looking like it did a decade ago, I can appreciate and cultivate the health I can have now. Rather than being anxious about what’s next, I can be grateful for what or who is next to me.
“God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11.
I can be patient with myself and others for being on the springtime side of eternity and look for the beauty in the season I’m in.
So I add raincoats to the boys’ backpacks for tomorrow and maybe … just maybe even look forward to the day.
by: Jinha Kim
"But those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14