Seasons of Life

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven Ecclesiastes 3

There are seasons within our life.  Times when we go through droughts and dry spots, feeling under the scorching heat of stress like a Florida summer.  Times when we are intentionally barren, choosing to let rest and renewal happen like in an Iowa corn field in winter.  Times when life feels renewed or reborn like spring.  Times of noticeable transitions like autumn.  The questions is, what season are you in?  Where do you find yourself?  Maybe in-between a season, not quite one or the other.  

Over the next few posts I want to look at the seasons then talk about the church seasons.  Noticing and naming what season we are in spiritually, emotionally and physically is important.  Some of the tension in our lives comes from feeling spiritually in one season and emotionally in another.  Yet, at other times, we might feel in one season spiritually and it will dominate and dictate over our body and heart.  So, living seasonally, can help...even in Florida where the shifts are subtle.

For example, it is now fall around here.  True the leaves are not radiant red or beautiful yellows.  My sweaters are still tucked away.  But, I do notice that the air feels less humid, there was a cool breeze swirling around yesterday out in the yard, and autumn is taking hold.  While I miss the fireworks display nature puts on in the north...I do not miss the snow.  

I want to start with spring, a time of renewal and rebirth.  There is a famous passage in John where a leader of the religious order named Nicodemus goes to see Jesus under the cover of darkness.  He does this both literally so that he may not be seen by others and metaphorically because he does not see clearly what Jesus' ministry is all about.  Jesus says to him that he has to be re-born.  I know, lots of religious people take that literally.  They say you have to have some kind of experience, maybe say a certain prayer.  And those of us in the progressive moment want to distance ourselves so much from that image, that maybe we have left John chapter 3 behind too quickly missing the need we all have for spring time.

We need places in our life where something is just beginning to bud.  I can think of three conversations I had last week where there was a new sprout of life peaking out.  To be sure, it is vulnerable...things may not go as I am hoping or planning...I need to wait and see what happens.  In spring you take one step and then ask, "What is the next right step?"  Too often we want to rush, microwave and micro-manage growth.  That makes some sense.  Our food is so process and rushed to the stores today that we've become impatient and want it now...right now please!  Growth takes time.  It is the slow steady work, some of which is in our control and some is beyond our grasp.  So, each day you tend and look for even the slightest change.  Rebirth happens slowly sometimes.  We need places where we are feeling the steady flow of the spirit.

Do you have a sense of spring in your life right now?  Often when we struggle it is because we either want to rush the germination process or because the new sprout of life is vulnerable it is can be broken easily.  To be sure, there is excitement and joy in spring.  Think about those first conversations that went all night with your partner.  Where one topic led to another to another, and you were so fascinated at the discovery, that you just kept talking.  Spring enlivens.  Spring can be soggy at times.  I also think that each season has it possibilities and struggles.  So the possibility of spring is new life...the struggle is waiting for the flower to bloom and reveal its color.  The struggle is our patience...the promise is that over time, the growth can be see if we are looking and watching.

Where is spring right now in your life?  Or, where is that trace of grace happening right now?  I pray you are able to notice and name at least one place and that it will strangely warm your heart.

May the God of all seasons receive you and bless you now and in the days to come.